Warm and cosy autumn baking recipes

Autumn has arrived and winter is just around the corner and that means the temperatures are starting to drop and the nights are drawing in. An activity that many people can enjoy during the season is baking and there’s nothing better than making a nutritious, warming dish that you have made yourself.

As people spend less time outdoors due to the changeable weather, baking is an inclusive activity that can be enjoyed by all during the colder months of the year. People who suffer from mobility issues and need aids such as curved stairlifts or walking aids can bake without worrying about any accessibility issues and it is also an activity that grandparents can enjoy with their grandchildren.

Autumn is a great time to get creative in the kitchen and some of the popular bakes you can make during this time of the year are filled to the brim with delicious flavours and spices and this article looks at some of the best warm and cosy autumn baking recipes that you can enjoy.

Autumn baking recipes to enjoy

• Pumpkin Pie
• Apple Crumble
• Carrot Cake
• Ginger Biscuits
• Toffee Apple Cheesecake
• Other autumn bakes to try

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkins are a beloved symbol of autumn and, in particular, Halloween with sales spiking in October leading up to the celebration. Whilst pumpkins are great for carving funny faces into, they are also delicious and can be made into a variety of meals.

If you are looking to include pumpkins in your baking, then you should look to make pumpkin pie. You can even turn up the volume of this classic American dessert by adding ginger cream and pumpkin seed brittle to it.

Kat, who is the author of the food blog The Baking Explorer, talks about why she loves making Pumpkin Pie during this time of the year.

“I make Pumpkin Pie every year around Halloween time, and I often make two of them! It's such a special bake to me as it reminds me of autumn times with friends and family, feeling cosy and happy memories. One of my favourite things to do is to introduce people to Pumpkin Pie, it's not as popular where I live in the UK as it is in the US, so I love to see my friends taste it for the first time and love it! If you've not had it before, it's a sweet pie with the texture of a set custard, and it's packed with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. To me, it's autumn in a pie!”

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients from BBC Good Food.

For the filling

• 1 small pumpkin or squash (roughly 500g/1lb 2oz), peeled, seeds removed, cut into large chunks
• 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
• 170g can of evaporated milk
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 2 tbsp ginger syrup (from a jar of stem ginger)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ whole nutmeg, grated
• pinch of ground cloves
• 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste

For the crust

• 50g pumpkin seeds (dried seeds from a pack are best here)
• 300g pack ginger nut biscuits
• 2 balls stem ginger, roughly chopped
• 85g butter, melted

READ MORE: The best warming autumn soup recipes you can try

Apple Crumble

Whether you are growing your own apples or you are just buying them from your local grocery store, another classic autumn dish you can bake is an Apple Crumble.

Apples are in season and an Apple Crumble is a home comfort dish that is perfect for those colder evenings. It is a simple everyday bake, but here in the UK, it is a popular dessert after a Sunday dinner.

Jenny Walters, the writer behind the Apply To Face blog, speaks about why she loves making Apple Crumble for her family.

“It is a great dessert for feeding a crowd and can be made ahead and reheated for easy entertaining. Plus, it makes your kitchen smell absolutely heavenly.

“Perfect for a Sunday Lunch pudding. Comfort food at its best, just like my Treacle Sponge and Jam Sponge recipes. Retro but still damn epic.”

Ingredients for Apple Crumble

Ingredients from BBC Good Food.

For the filling

• 575g Bramley apples (3 medium apples), peeled, cored and sliced to 1cm thick
• 2 tbsp golden caster sugar

For the crumble

• 175g plain flour
• 110g golden caster sugar
• 110g cold butter

READ MORE: Quick and easy autumn recipes

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake is another classic autumn bake that you should try to make and with its spice flavour and moist texture, it is an enjoyable cake that the whole family will enjoy.

Jane, a food writer and photographer who is behind Jane’s Patisserie blog, talks about her love of carrot cake on her site: “I love Carrot Cake. When I was little, I despised it, who on earth would want vegetables in a cake?! Little me was obviously wrong as it is DELICIOUS.”

When talking about the recipe for Carrot Cake, Jane says she loves the different flavours: “I love this recipe as it has delicious spices from the flavours of Mixed Spice, Cinnamon and Ginger – I love this combination because it suits the light moistness of the Carrot Cake so well but doesn’t overpower it. The vanilla from the buttercream gives it a delightful sweetness that I think is a cakey marriage made in heaven!”

Ingredients for Carrot Cake

Ingredients from Jane’s Patisserie blog.

• 225ml sunflower oil
• 4 large eggs
• 275g light brown sugar
• 300g grated carrots
• 100g raisins (optional)
• zest of 1 orange
• 275g self-raising flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g walnuts/pecans chopped (optional)

For the icing

• 250g butter, room temperature
• 500g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla bean extract
• 1-3 tbsp boiling water
• chopped nuts
• carrot shapes/sprinkles

READ MORE: Autumn and winter hobbies to enjoy at home

Ginger biscuits

Ginger biscuits are not only a traditional treat to enjoy during the autumn, but they are moreish and are perfectly served with a nice cup of afternoon tea.

Ginger biscuits are very easy to make and if you have grandchildren, then making ginger biscuits is a great activity to do when they are staying with you.

When you are making the biscuits you can make the dough ahead of time, so the only thing you’ll need to do is bake them when you are ready to eat them. When the biscuits are baking, your kitchen will smell incredible!

Ingredients for Ginger biscuits

Ingredients from BBC Good Food.

• 100g salted butter, cubed
• 75g light brown soft sugar
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 100g golden syrup
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1½ tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 small egg yolk, beaten

READ MORE: Fun autumn activities to do with your grandchildren

Toffee apple cheesecake

Cheesecakes are a popular dessert and they are a really easy dish to make at home as they consist of just a few simple ingredients - cream cheese, sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

When people talk about cheesecakes you often think of the velvety, dense, outrageously big ones you see spinning in the windows of New York or London delis.

If you are looking to make an autumn-themed cheesecake at home, then you can upgrade an old-school treat of toffee apple into a cheesecake that will look the part on any party table.

A toffee apple cheesecake recipe is not only packed full of autumn ingredients, but it is a delicious treat that you can enjoy at any time of the day.

Ingredients for Toffee Apple Cheesecake

Ingredients from the Olive Magazine.

• 75g butter, melted, plus a little for the tin
• 200g ginger biscuits
• 6 discovery apples (or Cox or Braeburn)
• 600g Soft cheese
• 100ml double cream
• 150g caster sugar
• 50g Plain flour
• vanilla extract a few drops

Toffee Sauce

• 300ml double cream
• 100g soft light brown sugar
• 75g butter
• vanilla extract a few drops

Other autumn bakes to try

Roasted Plum Flapjack

Image credit: Pudding Lane

Can you get any better than flavoured flapjack? There is nothing more autumnal than a plum flapjack and this recipe from Lucy Burton at the blog Pudding Lane is the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea and a cosy evening. We spoke to Lucy and she told us why she loves autumn baking and why fruit is the perfect option.

“I adore baking in the autumn, as there is so much beautiful produce in season. Early autumn is traditionally ‘harvest time’, and it sees late-season stone fruits - think plums, damsons and sloes - come into season, alongside wild delights like blackberries, mulberries and rose hips. Further into the autumn, it’s all about apples, pears and quince. This is the time of year to load your pockets with bags and head for the hedgerows! I like to fill my freezer with foraged goods now to brighten up my baking in the winter months.”

Lucy carried on to explain why plums are the perfect accompaniment to flapjack: “There’s so much baking and preserving that you can do at this time of year with so much produce available, and these roasted plum flapjacks are one of the go-to recipes. You can always swap the plums for whatever you have - these work beautifully with baked apple and blackberries running through them, for example.”

Find a Plum Flapjack recipe here.

Apple Cake

Fresh apple cake, you can’t get a lot better. Full of rich apples and soft, spongy cake, apple cake is the perfect autumn bake and is super tasty. Enriched with butter and fruit apples, you can enjoy this cake warm or cold, with custard or cream or simply on its own.

The Hairy Bikers offer a great Apple Cake recipe, describing this delicious treat in a little more detail on their website: “When you're in need of a nice piece of cake with a cup of tea this will do the trick. Spiced with cinnamon and lemon zest it's a fruity delight. Bet you didn't think you could enjoy something like this on a diet!”

Apple cake can be adapted and changed to suit your taste buds, add your favourite spices, add a sweet addition with white or milk chocolate chips or even add another fruit if you’re feeling adventurous.

Find the Hairy Bikers Spiced Apple Cake recipe here.

Baking is a really accessible activity that everyone can enjoy and if you suffer from mobility problems and need to use aids such as a stairlift, it is something that you can easily enjoy if you live at home on your own or if you are looking to do an indoor activity with your grandchildren. This list includes just some of the top autumn baking recipes that you can enjoy making at home, but there are plenty more which you can bake so do your research. For more tips and blogs like these then head to our news section.