Eight Recipes to Bring Autumn to Your Heart (and Stomach)
You know it’s fall when the good ol’ PSL is back in every coffee shop and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by all things made of apple and squash. Autumn is the best season for comfort food – everything is warm and cozy, from soups and stews to pies and pastries. Whether you’re a die-hard sweet tooth or tend to fall along the more savory side of things, we’ve rounded up four of the best recipes for each category to keep your appetite satisfied and warm as the temperatures drop.
Sweet:
Baked pears with walnuts and honey. This recipe only calls for four ingredients, and it will warm you up like nothing else. It has the bonus of making you feel virtuous for eating fruit (when was the last time that happened?), and also looking like something out of an upscale New York restaurant that also serves craft sodas and creatively-named cocktails.
Apple pie cups. The only thing that would make apple pie more delicious is having it in miniature form. With a cinnamon streusel topping and drizzled caramel over the whole confection, this dessert has it all. Although you could take a more homemade route with this one, using Pillsbury biscuits and a ready-to-go apple pie filling is more than fine. I mean, the fact that you managed to actually make something without giving up and going to FoCo for a cookie instead is cause for celebration enough.
Pumpkin cheesecake bars. Welcome to the big leagues. There are few flavor combinations more perfect than pumpkin and chocolate, and these cheesecake bars have perfected it. The fluffy, spicy pumpkin cheesecake is wonderfully complemented by a crushed chocolate graham cracker crust. Whip these up for those days where you need a little decadence.
Caramel apple cider cookies. Anything that has the word “cider” in it automatically is a fall staple. And these aren’t just your average cookie – although they have a standard doughy appearance, once you take a bite you’ll find a delicious center of gooey caramel. To get that freshly baked flavor, heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds before chowing down to get the caramel all warm and soft.
Savory:
Roasted butternut squash with kale and almond pecan parmesan. If you add one more ingredient to this dish, it might just explode from an autumnal overload. Although “parmesan” is in the name, this dish is vegan – it uses the nuts and nutritional yeast to create a cheese-like topping. Plus, the prep only takes about 20 minutes, so you can pop it into the oven during a study break and have a delicious dish ready for you in 45 minutes!
Acorn squash, caramelized onion and goat cheese pizza. This recipe happens to combine four of my favorite things in this world. This pizza is autumnal perfection. The toppings make the pizza rich without the heaviness, and the addition of rosemary and the garlic béchamel sauce will make the kitchen smell so good you’ll have to fight not to eat it right out of the oven (although that would burn your mouth and not be any fun).
Autumn harvest soup with candied cranberries. Although apples and cranberries don’t seem to belong in soup, this recipe somehow manages to bring in the sweet tartness of both while not overwhelming the base of squash. And if you happen to save the candied cranberries to actually use as a garnish (congratulations, people with your willpower are few and far between) as intended, this soup may just be too pretty to eat. But we all know you’ll dig in anyway.
Pasta with pumpkin sauce. For those of you who have tried (and failed) to make seasonal ravioli (Pinterest may or may not be at fault), this recipe is for you. The sauce has the main players on the autumnal spice team, featuring cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. The sage, pine nuts and Gorgonzola will bring this dish to a level your taste buds have never seen, and make you wish that you’d kept it to yourself instead of sharing with your roommate.