The 12 recipes we missed on our best fall bakes list
Where was the apple pie?!
Date
September 17, 2025
Have you seen yet? We dropped our ranked list of the 49 best fall recipes!
It’s a comprehensive survey of the best of fall baking: There’s pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, pear, and lots of cheese. Bakes of all kinds are represented: sweet and savory, breads and bars, cookies and cakes. And yet! We couldn’t fit everything on this list. There were snubs and surprises, and some heartbreaking omissions. Our audience (you!) and fellow King Arthur employee-owners had plenty of opinions about the recipes that should have been included — here are the biggest recipes we missed on this list.
1) Apple Pie
This is the omission that has received the biggest outcry. Said fellow employee-owner Kye Ameden: “It's not fall if you don't bake a classic apple pie!” We included Sourdough Apple Pie and Apple Pie Bars on our initial list because we thought they offered an exciting, more unexpected take on everyone’s favorite fall dessert. But if you’re looking for a classic, we recommend this version, which has a juicy — not runny — filling and added dose of tart apple flavor thanks to the inclusion of boiled cider.
Get the recipe: Apple Pie
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Vermont Boiled Cider
2) Harvest Pumpkin Scones
One of the first recipes I wrote about for the King Arthur blog, these scones are a quintessential fall bake for me. So when commenters decried their absence, I agreed! I should have argued harder for their inclusion, but at least this list will do them justice. Either way, you should definitely make them for their comforting pumpkin flavor and ultra-soft texture.
Get the recipe: Harvest Pumpkin Scones (or Gluten-Free Pumpkin Scones)
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Pumpkin Pie Spice and Mini Diced Ginger
3) Buckwheat-Cardamom Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These cookies taste like a classic chocolate chip cookie took a weekend trip up to Vermont during leaf-peeping season. In other words, they’re an autumnal spin on everyone’s favorite cookie, which comes from the inclusion of buckwheat flour and a dash of floral cardamom.
Get the recipe: Buckwheat-Cardamom Chocolate Chunk Cookies
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Buckwheat Flour and Cloud Forest Ground Cardamom
4) Sugar-Crusted Apple Cobbler
Beloved for its crackly sugar topping, this unconventional cake-style cobbler is simple to make and firmly positions apples as the star of the show. There’s a reason people both inside and outside of King Arthur have been yelling that it was robbed!
Get the recipe: Sugar-Crusted Apple Cobbler
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Vietnamese Cinnamon
5) Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts with Maple Glaze
When my colleagues and I were putting this list together, our boss told us loudly and frequently that apple cider doughnuts needed to be included. We risked our jobs and ignored him, opting for Apple Cider Doughnut Holes instead — we think they deliver the same fall doughnut vibes without the frying and shaping. But he continues to insist that these iconic doughnuts deserved a spot, and I’m sure many of our readers agree.
Get the recipe: Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts with Maple Glaze
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Vermont Boiled Cider
6) Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake
I can admit when I’m wrong, and almost as soon as our list was published, I realized this cake probably should have been on it. And our readers concurred. It’s a longtime favorite on our site, combining moist pumpkin cake with a brown sugar-espresso swirl. The finishing touch is a coffee-spiked glaze that’s brushed over the hot-from-the-oven cake.
Get the recipe: Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Golden Wheat Flour
7) Fried Apple Pies
Fried hand pies are a real “if you know, you know” recipe. It’s easy to dismiss them at first glance — who wants to painstakingly assemble and fry each individual pie? But if you’ve made them, you know it’s worth it: They’re golden, crispy, and flaky, with a molten apple filling that oozes when you bite.
Get the recipe: Fried Apple Pies
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Apple Pie Spice and Instant Clearjel
8) Savory Pumpkin Parmesan Rugelach
“I will never stop telling people this is the best fall bake,” says Community Development Coordinator Kat Mayerovitch. If it was up to her, these probably would have landed at #1 on our list. They’re an unexpected use for pumpkin, which pairs beautifully with the soft cream cheese dough and cheesy, sage-spiked filling.
Get the recipe: Savory Pumpkin Parmesan Rugelach
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Pastry Flour Blend
9) Classic Apple Crisp
Similar to apple pie, this is one of those go-to fall desserts that many people make every year. Our recipe is a perfected version of the classic: The filling is bolstered by brown sugar, boiled cider, and apple pie spice, while the topping has hearty oats, diced nuts, and a dash of cinnamon.
Get the recipe: Classic Apple Crisp
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Apple Pie Spice and Vermont Boiled Cider
What is boiled cider, anyway? One of our favorite fall ingredients, boiled cider appears in plenty of recipes on this list, plus the original list of the 49 Best Fall Recipes, Ranked. It’s made by boiling down apple cider until it’s a thick, sticky syrup with potent sweet-tart apple flavor — a total flavor bomb. If you don’t have boiled cider on hand, you can make your own: Here’s how.
10) Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins
This recipe was a heartbreaking cut, and it came down to one simple reason: We already had a stuffed muffin on the list (it landed in the top ten, no less!), and including this one felt like overkill. But if you love pumpkin, you should make these cream cheese-stuffed muffins, which also feature a sweet, streusel-y topping.
Get the recipe: Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Pumpkin Pie Spice
11) Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones
We went with these too-good-to-be-true Layered Fig Scones as our top scone recipe on the Fall 49 list, but readers have made the case that this recipe should have been there as well. With over 200 five-star reviews, these scones have won raves from our audience for years, and it's easy to see why: They’re simple but delicious, bursting with bites of fresh apple and studded with spiced Cinnamon Sweet Bits.
Get the recipe: Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones (or Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Scones)
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Cinnamon Sweet Bits
12) Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts
One reviewer dubbed these doughnuts a “great way to celebrate [the] first day of fall,” and it’s easy to understand why. With their brilliant orange color and cinnamon-sugar coating, they’re the perfect treat for a crisp autumn day.
Get the recipe: Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts (or Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts)
To make this recipe, you’ll need: Pumpkin Pie Spice
Check out the full list of our 49 Best Fall Recipes, Ranked, and make sure to stock up on our fall baking essentials while you’re at it!
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