Fall desserts hit differently when kids get involved.

Suddenly, ordinary cookies need candy eyes. Apples require caramel. Rice Krispie treats apparently need to look like pumpkins. And anything involving cinnamon sugar disappears from the kitchen suspiciously fast.

The good news? You don’t need professional baking skills or three hours of cleanup to make fun fall desserts for kids.

These recipes focus on simple ingredients, familiar flavors, and easy steps. You’ll find pumpkin treats, apple desserts, Halloween-inspired goodies, no-bake ideas, and a few recipes kids can actually help make without turning your kitchen into a flour-covered disaster zone.

Most of these treats also work beautifully for fall parties, school gatherings, Halloween celebrations, Thanksgiving dessert tables, or cozy weekend baking.

So grab the cinnamon, open that can of pumpkin, and maybe hide a few chocolate chips for yourself. You’re going to need them. 🙂

1. Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats

These adorable little pumpkin treats deliver maximum fall cuteness without asking you to bake anything. Kids can help shape and decorate them, which makes this recipe especially fun for a chilly afternoon.

Ingredients

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
4 cups mini marshmallows
3 tablespoons butter
Orange food coloring
12 small pretzel pieces
Green candy or green icing
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step-by-Step Instructions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
Add the marshmallows and stir until completely smooth.
Mix in the vanilla and several drops of orange food coloring.
Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the cereal.
Let the mixture cool for several minutes so little hands don’t encounter molten marshmallow. Nobody wants that.
Lightly butter your hands and shape the mixture into small balls.
Press a pretzel piece into the top of each pumpkin to create a stem.
Add a tiny green candy or a swirl of green icing beside the stem.
Let the pumpkins set for about 20 minutes before serving.

Why You’ll Love It

These treats look impressive while requiring almost zero artistic talent. That’s my favorite type of seasonal dessert. They also give kids plenty of decorating opportunities without requiring piping bags, complicated frosting techniques, or prayers to the baking gods.

2. Caramel Apple Nachos

Whole caramel apples look fantastic until a five-year-old tries to eat one. These caramel apple nachos solve that problem beautifully. You slice the apples first, pile on the toppings, and let everyone grab individual pieces.

Ingredients

3 large crisp apples
½ cup caramel sauce
¼ cup melted chocolate
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
¼ cup crushed pretzels
2 tablespoons chopped peanuts, optional
2 tablespoons colorful fall sprinkles
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Step-by-Step Instructions

Core the apples and cut them into thin wedges.
Toss the slices lightly with lemon juice to slow browning.
Arrange them across a large plate or serving board.
Drizzle warm caramel sauce over the apples.
Add melted chocolate in thin ribbons.
Sprinkle mini chocolate chips and crushed pretzels over everything.
Add peanuts if your household can safely enjoy them.
Finish with fall sprinkles.
Serve immediately while the apples stay crisp.

Why You’ll Love It

Sweet caramel, crisp apples, salty pretzels, and chocolate give you basically every snack craving on one plate. You can also create individual plates and let kids choose their own toppings. FYI, giving children access to sprinkles means accepting that you’ll find sprinkles in strange places for the next week.

3. Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin and chocolate belong together, and I will happily defend that statement every September. These cookies stay soft and cakey thanks to pumpkin puree, while chocolate chips add enough sweetness to win over kids who normally hear “pumpkin” and become suspicious.

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup softened butter
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamy.
Mix in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and salt in another bowl.
Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Scoop tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets.
Bake for 11–13 minutes.
Cool the cookies for several minutes before transferring them to a rack.

Why You’ll Love It

These cookies taste like fall without overwhelming kids with strong spices. The chocolate keeps everything familiar and extra snackable. I prefer semisweet chocolate here. Milk chocolate works too, but it makes an already sweet cookie even sweeter.

4. Cinnamon Sugar Apple Fries

Call something a “fry,” and children suddenly become interested. Marketing works, people. These tender apple sticks get a buttery cinnamon coating and taste especially good with caramel dipping sauce.

Ingredients

3 firm apples
2 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Caramel sauce for dipping

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Peel the apples if your kids prefer them without skin.
Cut each apple into thick fry-shaped sticks.
Toss them gently with melted butter.
Combine sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch.
Sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over the apples and toss.
Arrange the pieces in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15–18 minutes until tender but not mushy.
Cool slightly and serve with caramel sauce.

Why You’ll Love It

You get warm apple pie flavors without making actual pie crust. Kids can also dip every piece themselves, and apparently dipping food automatically makes dinner or dessert roughly 73% more exciting.

5. No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

Want a fall dessert that looks fancy without turning on your oven? These creamy pumpkin cheesecake cups come together quickly and look adorable in small clear glasses or jars.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups whipped topping
1½ cups crushed graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter
Whipped cream for topping

Step-by-Step Instructions

Combine crushed graham crackers with melted butter.
Spoon the mixture into the bottoms of small cups.
Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.
Beat until creamy.
Gently fold in the whipped topping.
Spoon or pipe the pumpkin mixture over the crumbs.
Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Top each cup with whipped cream before serving.

Why You’ll Love It

You get creamy pumpkin pie flavor without wrestling with pastry. The individual portions also make these easy fall desserts for kids, perfect for parties. Nobody needs to cut equal slices while twelve children stare at the cake like tiny dessert auditors.

6. Chocolate Acorn Cookies

These little acorns require almost no cooking and deliver ridiculous levels of cuteness. They’re especially good when you need a last-minute fall party treat.

Ingredients

20 mini chocolate sandwich cookies
20 chocolate candy kisses
20 mini chocolate chips
¼ cup melted chocolate

Step-by-Step Instructions

Separate the sandwich cookies and remove the filling if necessary.
Place a tiny amount of melted chocolate on the flat side of each candy kiss.
Attach one cookie half.
Add another dot of chocolate to the opposite side.
Press a mini chocolate chip onto the cookie to create the stem.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Refrigerate for 10 minutes to set.

Why You’ll Love It

Four ingredients. No oven. Barely any cleanup. Do I really need to keep selling this one? Arrange the acorns around cupcakes or a fall snack board and suddenly everything looks Pinterest-worthy.

7. Mini Apple Pie Bites

Traditional apple pie takes commitment. These little bites get you surprisingly close without demanding an afternoon from you. Store-bought crescent dough keeps everything ridiculously simple.

Ingredients

1 tube refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 apples
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup chopped pecans, optional
Caramel sauce, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Peel and thinly slice the apples.
Separate the crescent dough into triangles.
Brush each triangle lightly with melted butter.
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together.
Sprinkle the mixture over the dough.
Place one or two apple slices on the wide end.
Add pecans if desired.
Roll each triangle toward the narrow point.
Bake for 12–15 minutes until golden.
Drizzle with caramel sauce before serving.

Why You’ll Love It

These bites combine flaky pastry, tender apple, and warm cinnamon in a kid-friendly package. IMO, they taste best slightly warm when the pastry still has crispy edges.

8. Pumpkin Patch Brownies

Brownies don’t technically need a seasonal makeover. Will I give them one anyway? Absolutely.

Ingredients

1 batch prepared brownies
1 cup chocolate frosting
12 candy pumpkins
½ cup crushed chocolate cookies
Green icing
Fall sprinkles, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

Bake your favorite brownie recipe and let it cool completely.
Spread chocolate frosting across the top.
Sprinkle crushed chocolate cookies over the frosting to create “soil.”
Arrange candy pumpkins across the brownie patch.
Pipe green icing between the pumpkins to resemble vines.
Add a few fall sprinkles if you want extra color.
Cut the brownies into squares and serve.

Why You’ll Love It

You can use homemade brownies or a boxed mix. No judgment here. The decorating does all the work, making a basic brownie tray look like an adorable pumpkin patch.

9. Apple Cider Donut Muffins

These muffins bring apple cider donut energy without asking you to deep-fry anything. That’s already a win.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup apple cider
½ cup milk
1 large egg
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the topping:

3 tablespoons melted butter
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Grease a muffin pan.
Whisk flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Mix apple cider, milk, egg, butter, and vanilla in another bowl.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake for 15–18 minutes.
Mix cinnamon and sugar for the topping.
Brush warm muffins with melted butter.
Roll or sprinkle them generously with cinnamon sugar.

Why You’ll Love It

The fluffy centers and crunchy cinnamon-sugar coating make these hard to resist. Serve them for dessert, an afternoon snack, or breakfast. I won’t tell the breakfast police.

10. Chocolate-Dipped Apple Pops

Caramel apples can get messy fast. Apple pops give you the same fall-fair feeling in a smaller, easier package. Kids can decorate their own, which turns dessert into an activity too.

Ingredients

3 large apples
1½ cups chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Wooden sticks
Crushed cookies
Mini marshmallows
Fall sprinkles
Chopped pretzels

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cut apples into thick round slices.
Carefully insert a wooden stick into each slice.
Melt chocolate chips with coconut oil.
Dip each apple slice halfway into the chocolate.
Place the slices on parchment paper.
Immediately add sprinkles, pretzels, marshmallows, or cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate for 15–20 minutes.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Why You’ll Love It

Every kid can create a different topping combination. Plus, you get a higher chocolate-to-apple ratio than you get with whole dipped apples. That’s mathematics I can support.

11. Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow

Crunchy cereal, powdered sugar, chocolate, and pumpkin spice make an addictive little fall snack. Just remember: despite the name, this one belongs to humans, not puppies.

Ingredients

6 cups Chex cereal
1 cup white chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter or sunflower seed butter
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup candy-coated chocolates

Step-by-Step Instructions

Place the cereal in a large bowl.
Melt white chocolate with peanut butter.
Stir pumpkin pie spice into the mixture.
Pour it over the cereal.
Toss gently until every piece gets coated.
Transfer the cereal to a large zip-top bag.
Add powdered sugar.
Shake until thoroughly coated.
Let the mixture cool.
Stir in candy-coated chocolates.

Why You’ll Love It

This snack works wonderfully for movie nights and fall parties. For classrooms or allergy-sensitive gatherings, sunflower seed butter gives you an easy peanut-free alternative.

12. Easy Cinnamon Pumpkin Donut Holes

You don’t need a fryer to create bite-sized donut happiness. These baked pumpkin donut holes stay soft inside and wear a generous cinnamon-sugar coat outside.

Ingredients

1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
¼ cup milk
¼ cup melted butter

For coating:

¼ cup melted butter
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grease a mini muffin pan.
Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and salt.
Whisk pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, milk, and melted butter separately.
Combine the wet and dry mixtures.
Fill each mini muffin cup about three-quarters full.
Bake for 10–12 minutes.
Cool for five minutes.
Brush each bite with melted butter.
Roll generously in cinnamon sugar.

Why You’ll Love It

Kids see donuts. You see a recipe that doesn’t involve bubbling hot oil. Everyone wins.

13. Oreo Spider Cookies

Halloween falls right in the middle of peak fall-dessert season, so obviously we need at least one creepy-cute treat. These spiders lean much more toward cute than terrifying.

Ingredients

12 chocolate sandwich cookies
48 thin pretzel sticks
24 candy eyes
¼ cup melted chocolate

Step-by-Step Instructions

Break each pretzel stick in half.
Carefully insert four pretzel pieces into each side of the cookie.
Add two small dots of melted chocolate to the top.
Press candy eyes onto the chocolate.
Let the cookies sit for 10 minutes.
Arrange them on a platter and watch them disappear.

Why You’ll Love It

Kids can assemble these themselves with minimal adult help. They also work brilliantly for Halloween parties when you need something festive but don’t want to spend two hours sculpting fondant ghosts.

14. Maple Cinnamon Popcorn

Sometimes dessert doesn’t need cake, frosting, or an entire sink full of dirty dishes. This sweet popcorn takes ordinary movie-night popcorn straight into fall territory.

Ingredients

10 cups popped popcorn
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
½ cup pretzels, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

Place popcorn in a large mixing bowl.
Melt butter in a small saucepan.
Stir in maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Cook for about two minutes while stirring.
Pour the warm mixture over the popcorn.
Toss until evenly coated.
Add pretzels if desired.
Spread the popcorn across parchment paper.
Let it cool for 10–15 minutes.

Why You’ll Love It

The maple adds a cozy sweetness while cinnamon brings unmistakable fall flavor. Make a big bowl for family movie night and don’t expect leftovers.

15. Mini Pumpkin Pie Cups

Some kids love pumpkin pie but leave half the crust behind. Mini pumpkin pie cups fix that problem by turning the classic Thanksgiving dessert into two-bite portions.

Ingredients

1 refrigerated pie crust
¾ cup pumpkin puree
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon vanilla
Whipped cream

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Roll out the pie crust.
Cut small circles from the dough.
Press each circle into a greased mini muffin pan.
Whisk pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, evaporated milk, pumpkin spice, and vanilla.
Spoon the filling into each crust.
Bake for 18–22 minutes.
Cool completely.
Add a small swirl of whipped cream.

Why You’ll Love It

You get the flavor of classic pumpkin pie without cutting awkward slices. They’re particularly handy for Thanksgiving when children want to sample six desserts and somehow still claim they have room for cookies.

16. Caramel Apple Cookies

These soft cookies pack apple, cinnamon, and caramel into every bite. They’re basically caramel apples that learned some manners.

Ingredients

½ cup softened butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¾ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup finely diced apple
½ cup caramel bits

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cream butter with both sugars.
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Mix flour, baking soda, and cinnamon separately.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
Fold in diced apple and caramel bits.
Scoop dough onto a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10–12 minutes.
Cool before serving.

Why You’ll Love It

Finely chopping the apple gives you little juicy pockets without making the cookies soggy. Don’t overdo the apple. I tried that once, and my “cookies” developed the structural integrity of oatmeal. :/

17. S’mores Pumpkin Dip

This warm, gooey dip combines pumpkin, chocolate, and toasted marshmallows. Basically, it gives summer s’mores a sweater and sends them straight into October.

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ cup chocolate chips
1½ cups mini marshmallows
Graham crackers for dipping
Apple slices for dipping

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Mix cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar, and pumpkin spice.
Spread the mixture into a small oven-safe dish.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over the pumpkin layer.
Cover everything with mini marshmallows.
Bake for 8–10 minutes.
Broil briefly if you want extra-toasted marshmallows.
Serve warm with graham crackers and apple slices.

Why You’ll Love It

Kids get to dip, scoop, and fight over the most toasted marshmallow section. The apple slices also taste surprisingly good with the pumpkin-chocolate combination.

18. Fall Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

You don’t always need to reinvent dessert. Sometimes you take a dependable sugar cookie, throw autumn-colored sprinkles at it, and call it seasonal brilliance.

Ingredients

½ cup softened butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup fall-colored sprinkles

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl.
Gradually combine the dry and wet ingredients.
Fold half the sprinkles into the dough.
Roll the dough into small balls.
Press the tops into the remaining sprinkles.
Place them on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 9–11 minutes.

Why You’ll Love It

These cookies offer a safe option for kids who aren’t wild about pumpkin, apples, pecans, or heavily spiced desserts. They’re also easy enough for little bakers to help roll and decorate.

19. Apple Pie Yogurt Parfaits

Want something lighter after seventeen recipes involving chocolate, caramel, cookies, and marshmallows? I’ve got you. These apple pie parfaits taste sweet and cozy while adding creamy yogurt and fresh fruit to the situation.

Ingredients

2 apples, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup granola
2 tablespoons raisins, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add diced apples.
Cook for 4–5 minutes.
Stir in maple syrup and cinnamon.
Continue cooking until the apples soften.
Let the apple mixture cool slightly.
Spoon Greek yogurt into small glasses.
Add a layer of cinnamon apples.
Sprinkle granola over the apples.
Repeat the layers and serve.

Why You’ll Love It

The combination gives you creamy, crunchy, warm, and sweet textures in every spoonful. You can even serve these as an after-school snack. Add the granola right before eating so it stays crunchy.

20. Chocolate Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups

We’re finishing with one of the easiest and most entertaining fall desserts for kids on the entire list. Chocolate pudding becomes “dirt,” crushed cookies become soil, and candy pumpkins create a miniature edible pumpkin patch.

Ingredients

4 cups prepared chocolate pudding
15 chocolate sandwich cookies
8–10 candy pumpkins
Green icing
Gummy worms, optional
Whipped topping, optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

Crush the chocolate cookies into fine crumbs.
Divide chocolate pudding among clear cups.
Sprinkle a thick layer of cookie crumbs over each cup.
Place one or two candy pumpkins on top.
Pipe tiny green icing vines around the pumpkins.
Add a gummy worm if you’re leaning into the whole “dirt” situation.
Refrigerate until serving.

Why You’ll Love It

You don’t need an oven, mixer, or fancy decorating equipment. The clear cups also show off the layers, so this dessert looks far more elaborate than the effort involved. That’s exactly the kind of deception I support in the kitchen.

Tips for Making Fall Desserts With Kids

Baking with kids sounds adorable when you imagine it. Everyone wears cute aprons. Someone gently stirs batter. Warm cookies emerge from the oven while golden leaves drift peacefully outside.

Reality may involve an egg hitting the floor. That’s okay. A few simple tricks make these easy fall dessert recipes for kids much more manageable.

Choose age-appropriate jobs. Younger kids can add sprinkles, arrange toppings, crush cookies, or stir cool ingredients. Older children can measure ingredients, shape dough, and handle more complicated steps with supervision.

Measure tricky ingredients beforehand. Nobody needs a four-year-old free-pouring vanilla extract into cookie dough.

Use big bowls. Seriously. Bigger than you think you need. Large bowls dramatically reduce the amount of flour that somehow launches itself onto your counter.

Keep decorations simple. Candy eyes, sprinkles, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and pretzels create plenty of fun without requiring professional decorating skills.

Accept imperfection. The pumpkin Rice Krispie treat doesn’t need to resemble a genetically perfect pumpkin. If your kid made something that looks more like an orange potato, congratulations—you still have dessert.

What Fall Flavors Do Kids Usually Love?

Traditional fall baking often features intense spices, nuts, dark caramel, and other richer flavors. Kids don’t always appreciate every one of them.

For kid-friendly fall desserts, I usually keep the flavors recognizable. Apple and cinnamon make an easy starting point. The combination tastes naturally sweet, familiar, and cozy.

Pumpkin and chocolate also work surprisingly well together. Chocolate softens the earthy pumpkin flavor and makes pumpkin desserts more approachable for picky eaters. Then you have caramel apple, which barely needs an introduction. Sweet caramel balances tart apples beautifully.

Maple, vanilla, cinnamon sugar, marshmallow, and milk chocolate also work well when you want fall flavor without making everything taste aggressively like pumpkin spice. Because yes, pumpkin spice can have boundaries.

Best No-Bake Fall Desserts for Kids

No-bake desserts deserve their own little celebration. They keep the oven free, reduce prep time, and usually give kids more opportunities to participate.

From this list, the easiest no-bake choices include Caramel Apple Nachos, No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups, Chocolate Acorn Cookies, Chocolate-Dipped Apple Pops, Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow, Oreo Spider Cookies, Maple Cinnamon Popcorn, and Chocolate Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups.

These recipes also work beautifully when you need something fast for a Halloween party or unexpected weekend gathering. Nobody needs to know dessert took 15 minutes. Smile mysteriously and accept the compliments.

How to Build a Fall Dessert Board for Kids?

Can’t decide which recipe to make? Don’t. Make a small dessert board instead.

Start with one larger treat, such as pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or apple cider donut muffins. Then add smaller treats around it.

Apple slices bring freshness. Chocolate acorns add a fun seasonal detail. Pretzels provide something salty. Mini marshmallows, popcorn, and a few candy pumpkins fill empty spaces. You don’t need twenty different components. Five or six options create plenty of variety.

For a Halloween version, add Oreo spider cookies and gummy worms. For Thanksgiving, focus on mini pumpkin pies, apple treats, maple popcorn, and cinnamon desserts. Just remember one rule: put napkins nearby. Caramel has ambitions.

How to Store These Fall Treats?

Different desserts need different storage, but you can follow a few general rules.

Store cookies, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, and muffins in airtight containers at room temperature for around two to three days unless the recipe contains ingredients that require refrigeration.

Keep pumpkin cheesecake cups, yogurt parfaits, pudding dirt cups, and other creamy desserts refrigerated. Apple-based desserts taste best fresh because cut apples gradually lose their crisp texture. You can prepare cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it, which makes after-school baking much faster.

You can also freeze many baked cookies and muffins. Cool them completely, place them in freezer-safe containers, and thaw them at room temperature when the craving hits. Future you will feel extremely organized.

Final Thoughts

Fall gives us plenty of excuses to make dessert. Cooler evenings? Bake cookies. Halloween coming? Make spider treats. Bought too many apples? Clearly you need caramel.

These 20 easy fall desserts for kids keep things simple while bringing plenty of pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, chocolate, caramel, and maple flavor to the table. Some require baking, several require almost no cooking, and plenty give little helpers a chance to decorate their own creations.

Start with Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats when you want something playful, Caramel Apple Nachos when you need a fast crowd-pleaser, or Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies when you want the kitchen to smell ridiculously good.

And if your masterpiece ends up slightly crooked, overloaded with sprinkles, or decorated with three times as many candy eyes as necessary? Perfect.

That’s half the fun of making fall desserts with kids.