7 Yummy Pumpkin Recipes to Make This Fall That You’re Going to Love

Even though pumpkin flavored everything has been in every store and food establishment for weeks now, it only officially became Fall a few days ago. Jumping the gun has it’s perks but there’s something vaguely odd about eating pumpkin when the temps are still in the 80s or 90s. Now that Fall has brought along it’s Fall(-ish) weather, I think it’s time enough to pull a 12am at Cinderella’s Ball and turn everything into a pumpkin! If you’re sharing the urge to drown yourself in pumpkin food of all kinds, here are some of my favorite pumpkin recipes and fall staples:

Pumpkin Spice Granola {via gimme some oven}
Granola is the ultimate multi-tasking adaptable food. Not only does it make an obviously great snack but it can function as a breakfast, dessert, or even lunch if you serve it on the side of a salad or sandwich. I find that pumpkin and the spices associated with it make really yummy, really flavorful granola — almost as if you were eating a pumpkin baked good, but healthier. I followed this recipe exactly, except in place of the pecan halves I upped the old-fashioned oats to 2 1/2 cups and added 1/2 sunflower seeds to keep it nut free.

Image Credit: ali ebright

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes {via two peas and their pod}
Is it wrong to top a pancake with a sugary streusel as if it was a cake-cake? Or should we just go for it? Pancakes are technically a breakfast food but when I make these I always serve them for dinner. They taste so decadent that I can’t imagine it any other way, and paired with some breakfast meat it’s a full meal. They have a strong pumpkin flavor that gets a nice balance from the sugary-spice topping. Looking at this recipe again, I think I have to make these for dinner tonight. I had other plans but they will now be cancelled — nothing gets between me and my pumpkin pancakes!

Pumpkin Pie Spice {via joy the baker}
File this under the “I can’t believe I never thought about that before seeing this” category. Pumpkin pie spice is a spice blend that you can buy in a little (very little) jar at the store. It’s convenient, yes, but like most things I’ve found that it can be better made at home for less money. If you bake a lot, especially this time of year, you probably go through those tiny pumpkin pie spice jars from the store very quickly. There’s only a few tablespoons in each one the jars which doesn’t make it very far in recipes. With this, it’s so easy to just be able to create it from home and never have to worry about running out.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting {via smitten kitchen}
Pumpkin cupcakes are hard to get right. I’ve tried more than a few recipes and have always managed to find something wrong — they’re either too dense, not pumpkin-y enough, too spice heavy, or they taste too much like a muffin. But this recipe nails it. They have just the right about of pumpkin flavor, the ideal about of spice, and the goldilocks of textures. It also doesn’t hurt that you’re topping them with one of the most underrated frostings in the business: maple cream cheese. If you’ve never made it before that should be even more incentive to make these as soon as you can. Something magical happens when maple combines with cream cheese and I feel strongly in my heart that everyone needs to experience that beauty.

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins {via simple nourished living}
This isn’t usually the type of recipe I seek out but it is so simple and so delicious that I feel it’s my duty to pass it on. You need only 2 ingredients and they are 2 non-expensive ones that you probably even already have at home: a can of pumpkin puree and a box of chocolate cake mix. That’s it. They get mixed together, poured into muffin tins to bake, and 20 minutes later you have a very moist and chocolate-y muffin. The pumpkin in these is less of a flavor contributor (you can’t even taste it) but it functions as a binder and keeps things moist. These muffins are great if you are looking for a quick and relatively low-calorie chocolate fix.

Image Credit: deb pearlman

Pumpkin Pie Bars {via cheesy pennies via tasty kitchen}
There’s nothing wrong with making a pumpkin pie when it’s not a holiday, I just don’t tend to do it much. I think it’s the pie crust, it’s a special kind of beast that seems mostly reserved for holidays. I prefer to make these bars instead of a full blown pie. They have all the flavors of pumpkin pie but without the stress of making a crust. Because this crust is made from a cake mix (two cake mix recipes in a row?!) they are overall a tad sweeter than a pie would be and I have to say — I’m very into it and I think you will be too. For having 3 different parts (a topping, filling, and crust) these come together very quickly and are best served with vanilla ice cream on the side. Possibly covered in caramel syrup.

Pumpkin Ice Cream {via two peas and their pod}
Probably the most difficult recipe I’ve included here, but it’s also probably the most delicious. That’s how it tends to work, right? The hardest things to accomplish are the most rewarding? Am I now just giving food human feelings? Truthfully, this ice cream isn’t any harder to make than any other, and if you’ve made ice cream before than there’s nothing here that will look different to you. But I cannot sing enough love ballads dedicated to how much I love this ice cream — it has the ideal pumpkin flavor, is perfectly spiced, and extremely creamy. This is a staple of my Fall every year now, and I think it should be yours too.

What pumpkin recipes are your favorites to make?

Featured image is from Deb Pearlman.