Three Fall Desserts I Want To Try (and one recipe to start with)

As we walk into fall and the holidays that come with it, I keep thinking about sweet treats and warm meals. Some are staples we already make at home. Others are experiments I have been saving for a quieter kitchen day.

I like recipes that feel new, that stretch a skill, and that teach me something about how flavors sit together. These three are at the top of my list.

Red wine poached pears

I was never a pear person until a friend handed me one straight off the tree. That pear was enough to change my mind. Fresh fruit has sugars and texture you rarely get from the grocery store, where so much is picked before it is ready and then shipped. Poaching pears in red wine feels like the right way to meet them again: warm, a little bitter from the wine, sweet enough to serve after dinner. I have never made them. This fall I want to.

Pistachio raspberry cake

This one I can already see. I do not want a conventional round cake. I want the shape and the layers to feel considered, and I want the stacking to be as clean as I can make it. It will be an all-day project, the kind that only works if the kids are occupied and the house is calm. Fall break is coming. That feels like the right window for an experiment day.

Pumpkin spice madeleines

The cookie itself looks simple. The finish is where I want to spend the time. A ganache drizzle, dehydrated fruit, dried flowers, something that catches the eye. The flavor can stay familiar, pumpkin or apple spice. The presentation is the skill I want to practice.

Below is the madeleine, written the way I plan to make it. The pears and the cake can wait for their own posts once I have actually stood in the kitchen with them.

And as promised, a recipe for the road;

Pumpkin Spice Madeleines

Makes about 20. Prep 20 minutes, plus chilling. Bake 10–12 minutes.

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter, browned and cooled, plus a little more for the pan

• ⅔ cup sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• ½ cup pumpkin puree

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the finish

• ½ cup dark chocolate, melted with 2 tablespoons cream for a simple ganache

• Dehydrated apple, dried flowers, or a light dust of powdered sugar

Method

1. Brown the butter until it smells nutty, then cool it.

2. Whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla until pale. Stir in the pumpkin and browned butter.

3. Fold in the flour, baking powder, spice, and salt. Cover and chill the batter at least 1 hour, ideally overnight. Cold batter is what gives madeleines their hump.

4. Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter a madeleine pan.

5. Fill each shell about three-quarters full. Bake 10–12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers spring back.

6. Cool a few minutes, then turn them out. Drizzle with ganache while they are still slightly warm, and finish with fruit or flowers.

They keep in a tin for two days. They will not last that long.

What are you working on in the kitchen this fall? A recipe you have been wanting to try, or one your family already looks forward to every year? I would love to hear it.

From the Wild Bloom Farm Cafe kitchen - seed to plate, one season at a time

Serena