Don’t you just love grabbing some canned pumpkin puree from the pantry, combining a few ingredients, and voilà, you’ve got an easy fall dessert?
My go-to is usually an easy pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling cause the roll bakes so dang fast.
This post rounds up 20 pumpkin desserts that range from easy as pie to “ok, breathe.”
It includes old-fashioned classics like pumpkin pie that have an interesting technique or ingredient I haven’t seen before, plus creative recipes that just look fun to make.
I hope you enjoy these ideas and let the fall baking begin! 🎃
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This post is about the best easy pumpkin desserts you need to try this fall.
1. Mini Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Swirl
These tiny loaves are pure cozy. The batter is thick with pumpkin and loaded with fall spice, and the cinnamon sugar on top bakes into this crackly, crunchy crust that you cannot stop picking at.
It’s a small batch, so you’re not stuck with a giant loaf going stale on the counter. I love making these in a mini loaf pan because the little size makes them feel like a gift, even when I’m just keeping them all for myself. They stay moist for days too!
2. Easy Pumpkin Dump Cake
This one is the lazy genius of the bunch. You dump a silky pumpkin pie layer in the dish, sprinkle dry cake mix over it, top it with butter and a pile of chopped pecans, and that’s it. The whole thing bakes into a creamy bottom with a crackly, golden, nutty crust. Over the years I’ve gravitated toward desserts with nuts, toasted nuts especially, because they add that extra bit of nuttiness that cuts through all the sweetness.
You can serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for a decadent Thanksgiving dessert. Grab a bag of raw pecans and toast them yourself if you want even deeper flavor.
3. Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
Guys, They’re baked, not fried!!! so they come out soft and cakey and a little crumbly, and the whole point is that warm maple glaze on top.
You reduce real maple syrup down on the stove first, which deepens the flavor into something way more than just sweet.
The donut itself is loaded with pumpkin and spice, and once it’s dipped in that glaze and set, it honestly beats the drive-thru.
Serve them warm with coffee and they disappear fast. You’ll need a donut pan for these, and it’s worth the few bucks because once you have one you’ll be making baked donuts on repeat because who likes frying? not me.
In the mood to make cupcakes instead? 27 Fall Cupcake Decorations for Every Autumn Occasion
4. Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Fair warning, this one does not hold back. The caramel pulls double duty here. You make a salted caramel sauce from scratch, fold half of it into the cream cheese frosting, then drizzle the rest right over the top. So you get caramel worked through the frosting and caramel pooling on each slice. It’s rich.
The cake underneath is a simple 9×13 sheet cake, moist and oil-based, so it stays tender for days and gives all that frosting something sturdy to sit on.
The tang of the cream cheese is the only thing keeping it from tipping fully over the edge. Scatter a few toasted pecans on top for crunch and that little bit of nuttiness against the sweet. Cut small squares for this one. A good 9×13 baking pan is all you need.
5. Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
If you think pumpkin cookies have to be cakey, these will change your mind. They’re a snickerdoodle at heart, rolled in cinnamon sugar, but chewy and gooey in the center with crisp edges.
You brown the butter first, which gives everything a warm, nutty depth, and you blot the pumpkin puree dry with paper towels so the cookies stay chewy instead of puffing up like little cakes.
That one weird step makes all the difference. No mixer, no long chill, just one bowl. I keep a large cookie scoop on hand for cookies so every cookie bakes up the same thick, even size.
6. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crumb Cake
It’s a soft, moist pumpkin coffee cake with a creamy layer of cream cheese baked right into the middle and a thick, sugary, spiced streusel on top. Three textures in every bite.
7. Easy Pumpkin Pie Crisp
This is pumpkin pie for people who hate making pie crust. You whisk up a creamy pumpkin pie filling, pour it straight into the dish, top it with a thick golden cinnamon streusel, and bake. No rolling, no crimping, no crust at all!
The bottom stays soft and custardy like the inside of a pumpkin pie, and the top bakes up crisp and crumbly. You serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the hot-and-cold thing is the whole magic. It bakes beautifully in a cast iron skillet and goes straight from oven to table.
8. Pumpkin Bars
These are the classic pumpkin bars you probably grew up on. A soft, spiced pumpkin cake baked thin in a sheet pan, then slathered with cream cheese frosting and cut into squares.
One bowl, no mixer, done in about 25 minutes. I like them best chilled straight from the fridge, frosting and all. You’ll want a rimmed sheet pan to get that classic thin-bar shape.
9. Pumpkin Pie Crunch
Now if the dump cake earlier caught your eye, this one is its richer cousin. Same easy idea, but where that recipe used a thin layer of pumpkin under the cake mix, this one pours in a full pumpkin pie custard with evaporated milk and eggs, so the bottom bakes up thick, creamy, and almost exactly like the inside of a pumpkin pie.
The cake mix and pecans on top still give you that signature crunchy, buttery crust.
The trade-off is time. This one needs a full hour in the oven and tastes best chilled overnight, so it leans more make-ahead holiday dessert than weeknight quick fix. Serve it cold with ice cream.
If you’re all of the sudden feeling like you should also bring some fruit to your party: 29 Fruit Tray Ideas To Have at Every party
10. Milk Bar Pumpkin Caramel Pie
Now this one is a project, and I mean that as the highest compliment. It comes from Milk Bar, so it’s built in layers, each made separately.
You blind-bake a pie crust, pour in a chewy caramel, set that, then cover it with a silky pumpkin ganache, and finish the whole thing with streusel and fresh whipped cream.
It chills overnight before you can even cut it, and you serve it cold straight from the fridge. This is not your random Tuesday bake.
But if you want the one dessert on the Thanksgiving table that makes everyone go quiet on the first bite, this is it. Save it for when you have a free afternoon and a live, love, laugh attitude.
11. Swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Creamy cheesecake and pumpkin spice batter swirled together into a marbled top, all sitting on a crunchy gingersnap crust.
The gingersnap is the move here, it brings a little spice and snap that graham crackers can’t touch. No water bath, no whole cheesecake to wrestle with, just mix, layer, swirl, and bake in an 8×8.
They do need an overnight chill to set up, so this is a make-the-day-before situation. Slice cold with a sharp knife for those clean marbled edges. A food processor makes crushing the gingersnaps painless, though a zip bag and a rolling pin works in a pinch.
12. Pumpkin Pie Bars
A buttery shortbread crust gets par-baked, then topped with classic pumpkin pie filling and baked until just set.
One 9×13 pan feeds a crowd of about 24, which makes them perfect for a potluck or the Thanksgiving dessert table. Chill before slicing, and finish each square with a dollop of whipped cream. A 9×13 baking pan and a little parchment is all the gear you need.
13. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
These are the cutest! Two soft, cake-like pumpkin cookies sandwiched around a tangy maple cream cheese filling, a New England classic that lands somewhere between a cookie and a cake.
The maple is what sets the filling apart, playing off the spice instead of just adding more sweet. Jillian breaks down the cost too: about $17.82 for the batch of 24, or roughly $0.74 a pie, way less than a coffee shop would charge.
15. Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cake
Who doesn’t like a poke cake? You bake a soft pumpkin sheet cake, poke holes all over it while it’s warm, then pour salted caramel into every hole so it sinks into the crumb.
Then it gets a smooth cream cheese frosting on top. Each bite has caramel running through it, not just over it. Finish individual slices with an extra drizzle and a pinch of coarse salt for that sweet-salty hit. Store it cold.
17. Pumpkin Pie Bars with Sweetened Condensed Milk
These are the kitchen-sink bars, in the best way. You start with a shortbread cookie crust, spread pumpkin pie filling over it, then pile on butterscotch chips, toffee bits, and pecans before pouring sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing.
The condensed milk is the magic part, it melts down and binds everything into a gooey, glazed layer without any stirring or fuss.
You get soft pumpkin, butterscotch, crunch, and that nostalgic baked-pecan flavor in one bite. They need to cool fully before slicing or they fall apart, so be patient. A bag of butterscotch chips is the one thing you might not already have in the pantry.
18. Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
I love me a good Sally recipe! These are everything you love about pumpkin cake with a tangy cheesecake layer hidden right through the middle.
You layer the batter and filling, and the oven does the rest, so every slice has that creamy ribbon inside. It’s a Sally recipe, so it’s beginner-proof despite looking impressive.
Drizzle salted caramel on top or leave it plain. Just use full-fat block cream cheese and a well-greased Bundt pan.
19. Pumpkin Praline Bread Pudding
This looks so good!! This is the cozy, spoonable one for people who don’t love pumpkin pie. Torn challah or French bread soaks up a rich pumpkin custard, bakes into something soft and creamy in the middle, then gets drenched in a warm pecan praline sauce made from butter, brown sugar, and cream.
Sweet, custardy, and crunchy all at once. It’s a make-ahead dream too, and serves warm or cold. Use day-old bread so it drinks up all that custard.
A handful of toasted pecans in the praline sauce is what takes it over the top.
20. Pumpkin Lush Dessert
Don’t feel like baking?
Sometimes called pumpkin delight or pumpkin lasagna, it’s built in cool, fluffy layers: a buttery graham cracker crust, a sweet cream cheese layer, a creamy pumpkin pudding layer, and a cloud of whipped topping on top with chopped pecans.
No custard to bake, no cake to cool, just mix, layer, and chill. It slices into pretty striped squares and tastes like a lighter, fluffier pumpkin pie. Make it the day before so it sets up well. Worth grabbing extra graham crackers for that crust.
Which one do you fancy making this fall season? This post showed you 20 of the MOST saved RECIPES on pinterest.
Be sure to save this pin for easy access to all these tasty recipes and have a happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
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