Fall-ing in love with seasonal desserts

The secret to a perfect fall season lies within the various fall activities that one can engage themselves in. But more importantly, it includes indulging in the delicious desserts that come with the season. Both my girlfriend and I are big dessert people and this fall, we decided to put our baking hats on and make fall desserts to really get into the spirit. We have experimented with making various desserts this season, all of which came out perfect. Our roommates, friends and family have loved being the taste testers in this process and have all had positive attributions towards them. Out of all the desserts we have made, three of them were my absolute favorite. So I wanted to take you along our journey of making them and provide the recipes as well so everyone can enjoy these scrumptious sweets and get into the fall mood. 

Peach Cobbler

One of the first things we made this season was a peach cobbler made with fresh peaches from the farmers market. We went to the RVA big market, a farmers market in Richmond open every Saturday from 9am to 12pm all year around, to pick up some fresh peaches for the cobbler. For their fall cycle they also had fresh pressed apple cider, homemade apple cider donuts and other organic fall goodies as well. After getting the peaches we rounded up all the ingredients and began creating fall magic.

Ingredients:

Peach filling:

4 peaches

½ brown sugar

3 tablespoons of cinnamon 

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Crust:

1 cup of flour

¾ white sugar

1 egg

1 stick of butter

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 pinch of salt 

Instructions:

Step 1 –  Boil half a pot of water on medium heat. (enough for the peaches to dip underneath)

Step 2 – Add all the peaches into the water and let it boil until the skin is soft to peel.

Step 3 –  Take out the peaches, put them in an ice bath and peel each.

Step 4 – Cut peaches into medium sized slices and add all peaches into a big bowl.

Step 5 – To the bowl, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and maple syrup.

Step 6 – Mix until all peaches are coated.

Step 7 – Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.

Step 8 – Add peaches to the baking pan (the one we used was 9×9) and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 9 – Make the crust while peaches are in the oven.

Step 10 – Whisk together the flour, white sugar, egg, butter, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract to form the crust.

Step 11 – Once peaches are golden brown coat the top with crust.

Step 12 – Put the pan back in the oven for 30 minutes on 375 or until the crust is golden brown.

Step 13 – Serve and enjoy with vanilla ice cream on top :)

Cinnamon Rolls

For our cinnamon rolls, we tried something we never had before; making the dough from scratch. The goal was to make cinnamon rolls that weren’t dry on the inside which were gooey but not soggy. Making our own dough added authenticity to the recipe and enhanced freshness and flavor throughout. 

Ingredients:

1 cup of heavy cream

Cream cheese icing

Dough:

4 cups of plain flour

¼ cup of white sugar 

1 ½ teaspoon of salt 

2 ½ teaspoon of dried yeast

4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

1 cup of warm whole milk

1 room temperature egg

1 teaspoon of oil

Cinnamon sugar glaze:

1 cup of brown sugar

3 tablespoons of cinnamon

Cinnamon sugar coating:

¼ cup of melted butter

¼ cup of brown sugar

Splash of vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

Instructions:

Step 1 – For the dough, put the flour, white sugar, salt, and dried yeast in a bowl and mix well.

Step 2 – In the same bowl, add 4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter and mix well.

Step 3 – In the same bowl, add warm whole milk and mix well.

Step 4 – In the same bowl, add 1 room temperature egg and mix well until it is of a dough consistency.

Step 5 – Using a baking brush, brush oil on top of the dough.

Step 6 – Cover it and let it rise for 2 hours.

Step 7 – Afterwards, place dough on a flat surface and knead dough until smooth.

Step 8 – Flatten the dough into a large oval shape.

Now we will get started with the cinnamon sugar glaze that goes on top of the dough and becomes the inside of the cinnamon roll once it is rolled and cut into pieces. 

Step 9 – For the glaze, in a separate bowl add the brown sugar along with the cinnamon and mix well. The glaze is now ready to be assembled.

Step 10 – On the flattened dough, using a baking brush, brush melted butter onto the dough and spread the cinnamon glaze on top of it.

Step 11 – Begin rolling the dough vertically starting at the top of the dough and ending at the bottom, creating a thin cylinder.

Step 12 – Cut the dough into 9 even pieces and place into a 9×9 baking pan.

Step 13 – Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

Step 14 – Add heavy cream into the base of the pan, making sure to cover the base of each roll.

Now we will make the sugar coating to pour on each cinnamon roll.

Step 15: Mix the brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl.

Step 16: Spread coating evenly on top of each roll.

Step 17: Once the oven is preheated, place the pan on the bottom rack and bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 18: Once rolls are out of the oven, coat evenly with cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

Apple Pie

The last but not the least fall recipe that we made was an apple pie made of fresh apples from Carter Mountain. We took a trip to Carter Mountain with our roommates to get some fresh apples and enjoy all the fall themed activities they have. Carter Mountain Orchard is known for their spectacular views, pick your own farms, homemade cider and cider donuts along with their ice cream and wine. Our trip included a lot of hiking up hills, relaxing and enjoying the food plus the view, looking for areas with the most filled trees and of course finding the perfect apples to pick.

Ingredients:

4-6 red apples (we used pink lady apples)

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

⅔ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup of melted butter 

2 pillsbury pie crusts 

1 egg

Instructions:

Step 1 – Wash and peel the skin off each apple, removing the core and slicing into thin vertical slices. Repeat this with all the apples.

Step 2 – Place the apples in a bowl.

Step 3 – In another bowl add, mix the brown sugar, flour, white sugar, and cinnamon.

Step 4 – Pour dry ingredients on top of the apples and mix together.

Step 5 – Cook the apples until they become soft and evenly coated in the mixture. Stir often.

Step 6 – In a separate pan, melt the butter on medium heat before adding it to the apple filling.

Step 7 – Lay one of the pie crusts down and use a rolling pin to stretch evenly before adding and lining it up to the base of the pie pan. (We used a 9 inch round cake pan)

Step 8 – Begin pouring your hot apple filling into the pie pan.

Step 9 – With the second pie crust, cut vertical pieces into even strips to be used for the lattice.

Step 10 – Alternate laying the strips onto the filling in a parallel and perpendicular array to create the lattice pattern.

Step 11 – In a separate cup, crack one egg and stir lightly with a fork. 

Step 12 – Using a baking brush, spread the egg wash over the lattice and add a pinch of sugar on top.

Step 13 – Preheat the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 14 – Served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

These are just some of the many desserts we have made this fall and we plan to continue to make many more, possibly transitioning to making some Christmas themed desserts as the holidays roll around as well.  Baking is really something which is therapeutic to the mind and body. You can get creative while enjoying a delicious treat afterwards! What’s better than that? Getting to innovate and explore different desserts with my girlfriend has relieved a lot of stress and brought us closer together as well. These fall desserts have definitely made getting through the semester much more enjoyable and has really helped enhance our fall spirit.

• baking
• fall
• fall recipes
• pastry
• recipe