Fall is here! Let’s celebrate with some of my favorite small-batch desserts to enjoy this time of year.
Hey, folks, FALL IS HERE!!
I’m sorry, that wasn’t enough exclamation marks. Let me try again: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m writing this post on our first rainy day here in SoCal, wearing a fuzzy sweater, new rain boots, and sitting in a tiny empty coffee shop with a cup of coffee at my elbow. This is basically peak happiness for me.
And, even better, since it’s officially fall, I don’t have to feel slightly silly sharing fall desserts with you here, so today, we are going all in, and I’ve put together a list of my favorite small-batch fall desserts for you. There’s lots of pumpkin, lots of apple, and all good things.
I love making small-batch desserts in the fall because when it starts getting cold outside, I want to bake EVERYTHING. I want to spend long, cozy weekends in the kitchen baking every apple and pumpkin dessert in existence (and maybe come up with a few new ones), but all those treats start to add up FAST.
Making mini versions like these lets me bake to my heart’s content, but I don’t start getting grumbles from friends and family that I’m making them gain weight, and I don’t end up eating my weight in streusel weekend (<– a legit concern).
All of these recipes make 1 to 6 servings, which is the perfect amount of food for one or two people, so you can to indulge in all the best flavors of fall in a (mostly) reasonable manner. 😉
Small-batch Apple Desserts
You will love these Small-batch Apple Pie Bars with their buttery shortbread base, gooey apple cinnamon center, and crunchy streusel topping.
Cinnamon Apple Crumb Muffins
Small-batch Apple Pie Bars
Dutch Apple Galette for Two
Small-batch Pumpkin Desserts
These Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze are moist, lightly spiced, and delicious.
Small-batch Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Small-Batch Mini Pumpkin Eclairs
Small-batch Shortbread Pumpkin Pie Bars
Small-batch Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
Mini Skinny Pumpkin Pie With Graham Cracker Crust
Small-batch Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats
Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe Two Ways
Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies
Mini Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Small-batch Maple Desserts
These small-batch Bacon Scones with Maple Glaze are one of my favorite recipes from Baking for Two!
Small-batch Maple Scones (Maple Butter Scones)
Easy Baked Donuts Three Ways
Tammy’s Bacon Scones with Maple Glaze
These Small-batch Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies are soft and chewy with plenty of pumpkin spice flavor, like the perfect chocolate chip cookie all dressed up for fall.
We are officially into fall now, and I’ve already shared a bunch of pumpkin recipes on the site this year, Pumpkin Donuts , Small-batch Pumpkin Cupcakes , and a Mini Pumpkin Cake , but I haven’t yet shared any pumpkin recipes with one of my favorite flavor combos, pumpkin and chocolate!
So today, I’m fixing that. Let’s all bake some Small-batch Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies!
Biting into one of these cookies is like biting into the perfect chocolate chip cookie all dressed up for fall. They use just enough pumpkin to give them pumpkin flavor with a soft, slightly chewy texture.
And since these are pumpkin cookies and it’s pretty much law that pumpkin desserts must use pumpkin spice, they are packed full of fall flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to go along with the more-than-generous share of chocolate chips mixed in.
Like my Instant Gratification Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies , these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies use melted butter, and the super short chilling time is optional, so you can make them whenever the whim strikes you and be eating them in about 20 minutes.
Plus, since this is a small-batch recipe (it makes 5 nicely sized cookies), you have just enough to share without having to worry about loads of leftovers.
Not a bad way to say hello to fall, if you ask me.
More Fall Desserts
- Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Dutch Apple Pie
- Dutch Apple Pie Galette
- Apple Crumb Muffins
- Mini Pumpkin Pie With Graham Cracker Crust
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1oz ) unsalted butter
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60g ) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon *
- ▢ Pinch of ground ginger
- ▢ Pinch of ground cloves
- ▢ Pinch of nutmeg
- ▢ Pinch of allspice
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 2 tablespoon ( 25g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg yolk
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 15g ) canned pumpkin puree
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 1.5oz ) semi-sweet chocolate chips plus more for topping if desired
Instructions
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter for 20 to 30 seconds until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.
- In a medium bowl, combine cooled butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk until smooth. Add egg yolk, vanilla, and pumpkin puree, and whisk until well-mixed. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Place batter in the freezer while your oven preheats.*
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Once your oven is preheated and batter slightly chilled, drop 5 rounded spoonfuls onto your prepared baking sheet. For prettier cookies, roll dough into balls and gently flatten dough balls to 1/2 inch on the baking sheet with the palm of your hand.
- Bake for 9 to 12 minutes until cookies look set and the bottoms are lightly browned. Press a couple extra chocolate chips into the top of each cookie if you want them to look extra cute. Cool on the cookie sheet and enjoy!
Notes
Adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Small-batch Apple Hand Pies have all the joys of pie without the long cooking and cooling time. Gooey apples and cinnamon wrapped up in a flaky pie crust with a brown sugar and butter glaze over the top.
Happy Wednesday! How is your week going so far? I feel like mine is going by way too fast. I have an out of town wedding this weekend, and then I’m leaving the country next Thursday, so I’ve been running around, finishing up posts so you’ll still get new recipes while I’m traveling, and stress drinking enough coffee to eat a hole in my stomach–seriously, someone should probably take my coffee maker away from me now…
But I’m slowing down for a couple of minutes to chat a little about today’s recipe, Small-batch Apple Hand Pies, because I’ll always make time for pie, especially these ones.
Look how cute they are! I love them so much.
These hand pies start with a classic flaky pie crust. It’s simple to make and totally delicious. Inside of the pies is a mixture of apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon that you’ll really just want to eat with a spoon. They bake up all crispy and flaky on the outside and warm and gooey in the middle.
You can leave the hand pies naked if you want, just grab them from the pan and start chowing down as soon as they cool enough not to scald the roof of your mouth, but I like to add a brown sugar and butter glaze. It adds just this nice bit of crinkly, buttery sweetness on top of the pies and it’s basically perfect.
If you’re feeling like pie, but don’t want to wait all day for one bake and cool, these are the solution. You get all the joys of pie, but don’t need a fork to eat them and they bake up super quick. What’s not to love about that?
This recipe makes five 4-inch hand pies. They’ll stay fresh at room temperature for a couple of days, or you can freeze them. They freeze and reheat exceptionally well. Just pop the frozen pies on a plate and microwave for a couple minutes and the next thing you know, you have a hot sizzling pastry ready to be enjoyed.
More Apple Desserts
- Dutch Apple Pie
- Dutch Apple Galette for Two
- Apple Pie Sundae
- Apple Crumb Muffins
- Apple Cinnamon Cake
Small-batch Apple Hand Pie Recipe Tips
- If you have a preferred pie dough recipe, you can use your own. You need 1 9-inch crust worth of dough. I also LOVE making these with My Favorite Buttermilk Pie Crust . It gives you extra flaky pies and is a little bit easier to work with than traditional pie dough.
- Flour measurement is very important in this recipe. Too much will mess with the dry to liquid ingredients ratio and your dough won’t come together. Be sure to measure by weight or using the spoon and sweep method, as detailed in the recipe notes.
- If at any step your dough becomes difficult to handle, return it to the refrigerator for a few minutes. It will firm back up and be much easier to work with.
- You can substitute apple pie spice for the spices in this recipe. Replace the cinnamon and nutmeg with ¾ teaspoon of apple pie spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg.
- You will probably have a bit of leftover pie dough. See my post What to Do With Leftover Pie Dough for ideas to use up the leftovers.
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Pastry blender optional but nice to have
- ▢ 4-inch biscuit cutter optional but nice to have
- ▢ Pastry brush
Pie Crust
- ▢ 6 tablespoons ( 3oz ) unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch chunks and chilled
- ▢ 3 tablespoons ( 36g ) vegetable shortening chilled
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups ( 180g ) all-purpose flour measured using a scale or the spoon and sweep method*
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 12g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar optional
- ▢ 1/4 cup ice-cold water plus more, if needed
Apple Filling
- ▢ 2 large Granny Smith apples peeled, thinly sliced and slices cut in half
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 12g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 1/2oz ) unsalted butter
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
Egg Wash
- ▢ 1 egg
- ▢ 1 tablespoon milk
Brown Sugar Glaze
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 1/2oz ) unsalted butter melted
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60g ) powdered sugar sifted
- ▢ Pinch of cinnamon
- ▢ Pinch of salt
- ▢ 1 tablespoon milk plus more as needed
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Before you start prepping your ingredients, place your butter and vegetable shortening in the freezer so they are very cold when you are ready to work with them.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add chilled, cubed butter and shortening and use a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingers to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until no pieces larger than a pea remain.
- In a small cup, combine apple cider vinegar and the ice-cold water and then slowly drizzle the liquid into the dry ingredients stirring with a fork. Continue to stir until dough clumps and comes together. Add a little more cold water if necessary, but be careful not to add too much. Your dough should not be wet or sticky!
- Gather the dough and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, squishing the dough into a 1-inch thick disk. Refrigerate for an hour, up to 2 days.
Apple Filling
- In a medium pot, combine all the filling ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes, until apples are softened and juices begin to caramelize. Set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes.
Assemble
- Take pie dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes to soften just slightly so it doesn’t crack when you roll it out. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Whisk together egg and milk for the egg wash and set aside.
- Flour your work surface and rolling pin, and roll pie dough out to 1/4-inch thick. Cut out 5 4-inch rounds, gathering and re-rolling the dough scraps as necessary. Place each of the rounds on your prepared baking sheet as you cut them out. If at any time you feel like the dough is getting difficult to handle, place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
- Brush egg wash around the outer 1/2 inch of the rounds. One at a time, top half of each round with cooled apple filling (don’t overfill or you won’t be able to close them–you might have leftover filling), leaving at least 1/4-inch of space around the edge, and fold dough over. Crimp edge with a fork and repeat with remaining rounds and apples.
- Cut 3 slits in the top of each hand pie and then lightly brush the pastries with egg wash. Bake for 12 to 16 minutes until golden. Cool for 10 minutes before glazing.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all glaze ingredients. Add more milk by the 1/2 teaspoon until glaze reaches a drizzling consistency and brush or drizzle over pies. Allow to set for 5 minutes and enjoy!
