Fall is a season of many flavors! Warm, autumnal spices and fudgy chocolate make the season cozier and comfier. It’s an excellent time to make the best fall desserts featuring seasonal produce like apples and pumpkins. If you’re hosting a party, this list will get you inspired to make something with quality, craft ingredients.
We created this ultimate guide to fall desserts to help you kickstart the season. Scour the recipes, and you’ll notice everything from tasty evening snacks to celebration cakes. You’ll also find plenty of ways to use TCHO chocolate! Create something unique with a plant-based dessert and vegan chocolate recipes. Fall is an excellent time to explore techniques and bake modern takes on old favorites. There’s something here for everyone, so indulge in everything autumn has to offer!
1. Tasty Autumn Tarts
Tarts are a light and delicious alternative to fall pies and cakes. There are so many pastries and fillings that you can easily adapt to autumn flavors. We like that you can create one large dessert for a party or make mini tarts for a personalized treat.
Spiced pumpkin tarts and chocolate pumpkin tarts are rich and seasonal, but you can also work with fall fruit. Try persimmon tarts with a maple-cinnamon cream cheese filling. Pear and ginger are a refreshing take on autumn flavors — and you can’t go wrong with one featuring apples and fresh cranberries. Add walnuts or pecans and fall spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. No matter which tart recipe you choose to make, you’ll discover a satisfying combination of lush notes and airy textures.
2. Classic Apple Pie
Apple pie is a fall classic, especially when it’s infused with plenty of spices. Feel free to use your choice of apples, including fresh and locally harvested options. If you ask an experienced baker, they’ll recommend Honey Crisp or Crispin apples for their firm texture and sweet, balanced flavor. Other favorites include tart Granny Smith and mellow Gala, along with Golden Delicious or Pink Lady.
Once you choose your apples, decide whether to make an old-fashioned crust with the perfect crimp or a pretty lattice design. You can also make a cut-out apple pie crust adorned with fall pastry leaves or acorns. Cinnamon and nutmeg are nearly essential, but you can also include hints of clove or rosemary. For a modern spin on traditional apple pie, include spices like sage or anise. Top with a rich caramel sauce or a delicious plant-based coconut cream whipped topping.
3. Fall Pound Cake
If you’re thinking about making a festive fall dessert for a group, check out seasonal pound cake recipes. These treats are easy enough to bake in a loaf pan, but we like the bundt mold for its impressive, share-worthy appearance. Find a large bundt at a baking supply store. You may also find a set of mini-bundt pans, which make for cute after-dinner desserts or party favors.
There are endless options for autumnal pound cake ingredients if you work with fall flavors. We love a tasty fall spice cake or a festive pumpkin-spiced bundt. Mouthwatering options include moist and fluffy apple butter pound cake or a bourbon-based cake with candied pecans and brown sugar icing. Pound cakes are traditionally dusted with sugar or lightly glazed with a decadent icing or sauce. Whether your guests love salted caramel or Mexican spiced chocolate, it’s fun to make a themed cake with the best flavors of the season.
4. Comforting Apple Crisp
Apple crisp is just as seasonal as apple pie, but it’s even simpler to make. It’s also easy to make it on short notice. All you need are simple ingredients like fresh apples and vanilla extract. Choose organic brown sugar and old-fashioned oats for a nutritious, delicious taste and a textured topping.
You don’t need any special skill to make delicious apple crisp. Simply combine the recipe ingredients in a baking dish and top your apples with the crumb mixture. Bake as directed and wait for the aroma to fill your kitchen. When it’s done, the apples will be soft and tender. Serve your crisp warm out of the oven — or dish it out “a-la-mode” with plant-based vanilla ice cream or a whipped almond milk topping.
5. Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies
Pumpkin chocolate cookies are perfect for trick-or-treaters and Halloween parties. They look impressive on the plate, but the good news is they’re just as easy to make as any other fall cookie. Ingredients like pumpkin puree and rich, dark baking chocolate give these orange and black cookies their signature look and impressive depth of flavor. Make this dessert your own with fudgy 70% cacao dark chocolate or an elevated 81% cacao with deep cocoa notes.
Pure vanilla extract helps to balance and round out the dessert’s rich and nutty flavors. It’s also common to include fall spices like ginger or cloves. Cinnamon and nutmeg are classic in a pumpkin chocolate cookie. Make them large or small, and then consider saving leftover ingredients for homemade chocolate pumpkin bread.
6. Spiced Hot Cocoa
Some fall desserts are for drinking! A cup of craft drinking chocolate can change anyone’s mind about hot cocoa. Instead of the old and powdered stuff, you’ll make your cocoa with delicious TCHO dark chocolate crumbles. These fudgy bits are tasty when you eat them alone, but our Golden Milk Drinking Chocolate recipe is even better. Follow it to the tee or adapt it to your liking. Scald plant-based milk and pour it over your drinking chocolate. Add fall spices like cardamom and ginger, and then blend with an immersion blender. Pour and enjoy!
Our Blue Corn Hot Cocoa recipe is reminiscent of the harvest and will delight anyone who enjoys a drink. Along with TCHO Hawt Chocolate, blue corn meal and oat milk make this drinking chocolate memorable. If you have the right drinking chocolate crumbles, you can make any style of hot cocoa you like. Mexican spiced hot chocolate includes cinnamon and chili powder, but you can also make one with star anise or nutmeg.
7. Traditional Pecan Pie
Pecan pie is a southern favorite during autumn. One taste of this sweet and savory treat, and you’ll wonder why you haven’t yet made one! A traditional pecan pie features plenty of chopped pecans and organic brown sugar to give the dessert its rich and nutty flavor. You probably have the ingredients for pecan pie in your pantry, including vanilla and melted salted butter. You can also use your favorite plant-based butter.
Classic and vegan recipes are available so everyone can enjoy the rich and comforting flavor. The ingredients list is simple, and the prep time is short. You won’t spend much time baking, but you will want to cool this pie to room temperature. It’s even delicious out of the fridge — just make sure you give it time to set like a pudding.
8. Seasonal Chocolate Mousse
Yes, we like chocolate mousse even in fall! It makes an excellent treat for a Halloween party and is a comforting, light dessert after a big Thanksgiving dinner. Rich, yet airy chocolate mousse is one of our favorite choices for chocolate and wine pairings. Create an elegant vegan dark chocolate mousse with TCHO Sweet & Sassy 66% and ingredients like vanilla extract and oat milk. Enjoy it with Port wine to bring out the complex cocoa flavor.
Chocolate salted caramel mousse and dark chocolate raspberry mousse are delicious companions for wines like Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. If you like cream sherry, make an airy chocolate mousse infused with coffee. For a unique spin on your fall mousse, include flavors of pumpkin or rosemary.
9. Autumn Chocolate Balls
Chocolate balls are so easy to pick up and eat that they’re a perennial fall party favorite. If you want to serve something portable and not-so-messy, you’ll find a chocolate bar to match the right flavors. For a simple yet delicious vegan chocolate ball, all you need is dark chocolate and cocoa powder along with your choice of plant-based cream. Coconut and cashew cream both work well, but you can also choose soy milk.
If you want to get extra-creative, some bakers like to shape their chocolate balls to look like fall acorns. You can also fill them with delightful goodies like finely chopped pecans or bits of pretzel sticks. Some chocolate ball recipes feature the warm taste of bourbon or maple. Or give your guests an introduction to the late fall and winter season with flavors of peppermint or ginger.
10. Autumn Chocolate Pie
If you’re looking for rich and comforting chocolate flavor but don’t want a cake, it’s the best time for a fall chocolate pie. So many of autumn’s flavors marry well with dark chocolate. It’s easy to add seasonal ingredients and toppings to make the pie exactly how you want it. If you’re new to making this dessert, you can start with a classic chocolate cream pie. The filling tastes just like pudding, with a crunchy crust that helps balance out the cool and creamy chocolate texture. Finish with whipped plant-based cream and top with bits of finely chopped dark chocolate.
Create a play on fall campfire s’mores with a graham cracker crust and a whipped marshmallow topping. For a pie that’s out of this world, our Ube Sweet Potato Pie with a chocolate crust gives you the perfect combination of rich fall flavors and delicious TCHO chocolate. Use our Super Powder, an unsweetened and natural cocoa powder without added sugars or flavors. Brown sugar and rye flour give the chocolate crust its signature flavor, while purple ube sweet potato and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg will have you wondering where this pie has been all your life.
11. Fall Whoopie Pies
When you’re making dessert for the kids, you bake a little differently. Handheld treats are perfect for busy little ones — and desserts like whoopie pies are on-trend for children of all ages. Ice cream sandwiches are a little too cold for fall, but pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese are a cozy and classic alternative everyone will love. If your kids prefer different seasonal flavors, there are many possible combinations.
Create chocolate cookies with fluffy marshmallow filling or a cream cheese filling infused with pumpkin. Some kids prefer a classic vanilla buttercream with a maple or cinnamon cookie. From birthday parties to fall harvest celebrations, kids will go crazy over these flavors and how easy they are to eat.
12. Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies
Pumpkin chocolate brownies seem to get more popular every year. It’s hard to resist the warm and rich combination of pumpkin and dark chocolate, especially when you include bits of craft chocolate. Hints of cold brewed coffee and vanilla extract offer depth of flavor. Swap out the cold brew for a splash of espresso for an extra jolt, and then be sure to include the essential ingredients like pumpkin pie spice and organic light brown sugar.
The brownies take about an hour to bake, but you’ll want them to chill overnight. Slice them cold to bring out the flavor and make them the most enjoyable dessert treat. These brownies are an excellent pairing with a cup of hot coffee. You can also try them along with warm drinking chocolate. Satisfy pumpkin lovers and chocolate lovers — which we think should be everyone in the family.
Baking and Making the Best Fall Desserts
There are so many delicious fall desserts with unique flavor profiles. We’re partial to chocolate, but we’re also fans of fall flavors like sweet potato and pumpkin. Showcase chocolate in your autumn recipe or include it with other featured ingredients like bourbon or caramel. Any fall desserts on this list will be the perfect ending to a fall celebration or dinner. Try a few recipes in this guide, and you’ll have favorites to enjoy the entire season.