Fall is here, bringing with it some of my favorite seasonal flavors! Typically, we think of pumpkin spice and apple cider, but one of my favorites is the often overlooked maple. Sure, we enjoy maple syrup year-round, but how often do you have entire desserts dedicated to the deliciousness that is maple? Probably not often enough, if I had to guess. That’s why I’ve rounded up some of my favorite maple desserts we’ve done over the years here on 12 Tomatoes! Let’s dig in and find your new favorite fall treat.
Maple Glazed Apple Blondies
These Maple Glazed Apple Blondies have everything I love about autumn all wrapped up in a nice little blondie bar. There are three components of this decadent fall dessert. You’ll start by making the apple filling. Combine finely chopped apples, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla in a pot and cook on medium-low heat until the apples are soft. That filling sounds good enough to eat on its own, don’t you think? Get the full recipe here!
Maple Syrup Waffle Cake
This is our maple waffle cake. All our favorite flavors that we associate with this morning classic, but reinvented as a tasty dessert. Five layers of the fluffiest waffles you’ve ever had – definitely bookmark this recipe for waffle cake-making or for whenever you want great waffles in general – all stacked together, bound by a maple cream cheese frosting that is ridiculously good. Topping it all off is a maple glaze that seals that deal and makes this one of the tastiest (and prettiest!) confections we’ve made in a while! Get the recipe here!
Maple Gooey Butter Bars
There are all kinds of desserts out there – fudgy, creamy, crunchy – but the gooey variety don’t seem to get quite the attention they deserve. And why not? Eating something with a custardy smoosh is always so satisfying. These easy bars are based on the ever-wonderful Gooey Butter Cake (which really celebrates the greatness of ooey-gooeyness) but with some maple-flavored flair. They’re rich and indulgent, but they still make it pretty hard to stop at just one. Get the recipe here!
Maple Sugar Cream Pie
Oh my gosh, guys, if you’re looking for a silky smooth, decadent dessert with a flavor so rich and delicious it’ll have you begging for more, this is the recipe for you. While we all know and love the classic cream pies – banana and coconut = crowd favorites – we’ve got a different one for you today that we can easily see overthrowing the traditional faves. Embracing a slightly more autumnal flavor, this is a maple sugar cream pie, and WOW is it good. Get the recipe here!
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Ohhhhh, you guys. These cookies. These. Cookies. We know we mayyyy have a tendency to rant and rave about food, but these are truly amazing. They’re everything you want a fall cookie to be. They’re so very soft and a little bit chewy with just the right amount of pumpkin spice flavor. All of that topped with a maple cream cheese frosting… and it’s almost too good. As soon as the last one was gone, we wanted to make them twelve more times. What can we say? We always want them around. Get the recipe here!
Sticky Maple Walnut Shortbread Tart
There’s something about desserts involving nuts that just feel more holiday-oriented to us. Maybe we’re alone in that, but this maple walnut shortbread tart feels perfect for the end of the year! We love a good pecan pie, but we prefer this yummy treat because of the balance between the sweetness of the nut filling and the lightness of the crust. It’s not too cloying that way, and we get a more well-rounded flavor! Get the recipe here!
Maple Bacon Pecan Sticky Buns
If you could combine all of your favorite things about breakfast into one little muffin tin, wouldn’t you go ahead and do it? That’s basically what’s happening with these delightful sticky buns. They take a simple doughy pastry and combine it with maple syrup, bacon, and pecans for one delightful morning bun that’s sticky, sweet, crunchy… and easy too. Get the recipe here!
Maple Bacon Breakfast Cookies
These oat filled cookies are chewy and sweet and filled with chopped bacon, and topped with a little more for good measure. They’re also drizzled with a sweet maple glaze that plays off of the smoky flavor of the bacon while contrasting with the saltiness. They’re an exercise in yin and yang, you might say, and it works so very well. Get the recipe here!