When the weather turns cool and crisp outside, it inspires us to heat up the oven inside and fill our kitchen with the sweet and nutty smells of fall. Fall desserts feature some of our favorite flavors, like pumpkin spice, caramel apple, sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate peanut butter and s’mores. 

Whether you like to bake for yourself and your family or for work parties, school gatherings and holiday festivities, in fall you have creative baking options that will surprise and delight your taste buds and the crowd you’re serving. In fact, we’ve searched out several fall dessert ideas that really got our mouths watering to help you choose your next homemade, seasonal sweet treat.

Here are delicious fall dessert ideas designed to inspire your senses and warm the hearts (and bellies) of those you love. Cheers to another beautiful fall season in Norfolk, VA, and Happy Holidays to all!

Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Leave it to Martha Stewart to give us this delicious and oh-so indulgent cookie recipe that features gooey caramel stuffed into crispy chocolate chip cookies. The secret to making these is in freezing the balls of dough for about 15 minutes before cooking, allowing the center to cook more slowly and maintain that gooey, caramel texture.

Pumpkin Pie Brownies
As if we couldn’t love pumpkin pie or brownies anymore, this indulgent recipe combines the two for miraculously delightful results. As an added bonus, this recipe is so easy you can make it as much as you want and without having to work too hard! 

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin spice lovers can celebrate these gooey, chewy, chocolately and oh-so pumpkin-y cookies this season whenever their hearts desire, because they’re as tasty as they as they are easy to make! Bursting with pumpkin spice flavors and rich, decadent chocolate, these cookies will surely end up on a Top 10 dessert list somewhere soon.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Combine your love for sweet potatoes with your love for adorable cupcakes in this easy to prepare and fun to serve cupcake recipe. Perfect for school parties, birthday parties or just any old time you’re gathering your fellow sweet potato lovers together, you’ll want to keep this recipe cloase all season long!

Pumpkin Pie Bars
Turn your favorite holiday pie into easy to eat and serve bars for your next family gathering or holiday social. Perfect for all ages and fun to make with the entire family, you’re sure to get crowd approval on these gooey, delicious bars!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
This recipe is the ultimate in decadence, and is a perfect dish for serving at your next dinner party or family gathering. Rich, gooey chocolate and creamy peanut butter make this pie incredibly indulgent and oh so worth every calorie (at least, that’s what your taste buds will tell you).

Apple Fries
These apple fries are such a fun dish to serve, you may find yourself serving them throughout the fall and winter months to comfort on cold nights or perk up on chilly weekday afternoons. Granny smith apples, gooey caramel and loads of cinammon make these a truly seasonal treat.

S’more Cupcakes
Bring the warmth of an outdoor fire and crisp, gooey marshmallows sandwiched between crunchy graham crackers into your kitchen with this seriously delicious and fun s’mores cupcakes recipe from Betty Crocker. Perfect for a holiday party or school social, your kids and your grown up kids will love these equally!