20 Pumpkin Treats for Fall!

Hi there, it’s Hayley with a roundup to get you excited about fall!

Whether you’re sad to see summer go or giddy about the arrival of fall, one thing’s for sure, fall is coming! Personally I’m pretty excited. I crave this time of year — the cooler nights and mornings, the briskness in the air, the smells, soups and stews, sweaters and scarves. It’s magical. We haven’t even entered Indian Summer yet here in the South, but we’re on the brink, and you know what that means! Pumpkin mania. No pumpkin latte for me though thank you, I prefer my pumpkin in the form of a baked good.

I still dream about the mini pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling and a brown sugar pecan streusel that I used to sell at the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg, when I lived in New York. I sold baked goods for the talented baker of a wonderful little restaurant tucked away in the West Village. Every Saturday and Sunday morning I’d take the train into the city from Brooklyn, then we’d hail a cab and load it up completely full of baked goods. The cab was then enveloped by a menagerie of sweet and savory aromas from the fresh-out-of-the-oven sourdough boules, olive twists, maple rum scones, peanut butter cookies and more. Then the taxi would whisk me away across the East River and into Brooklyn, where I’d unload everything, set up, and sell for the next nine hours or so, before doing it all again, but backwards. I actually loved every minute of it (apart from the occasional disgruntled taxi driver).

I loved all of the items I had to sell, but those pumpkin muffins were one of my favorites. The recipe came from the mother of one of the cooks at the restaurant, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on it ever since. So each fall, when I get the itch to bake something with pumpkin, I think about those muffins, and I think about New York. I’m flooded with a happy nostalgia, and before I know it, I’m smiling.

We’ve got quite the pumpkin roundup for you today! From muffins that look exactly like the ones I describe, to cookies, cheesecakes and everything in between — here are 20 pumpkin treats you don’t want to miss!