11 Easy Fall Desserts Because We Need Dopamine & We Need It Now

Any recipe that uses store-bought ingredients and involves a little mixing and dumping at most is exactly what I’m looking for when I’m drained and need something to lift my spirits. Princess Pinky Girl’s pumpkin earthquake cake involves making a box cake mix, whipping together a sweet cream cheese topping, and swirling it together in a pan before popping it in the oven.

Sweet and simple, A Cookie Named Desire’s caramel apple dip can be ready in 10 minutes. It combines cream cheese, caramel sauce, apple cider, and a bit of vanilla and salt for the perfect dip version of your favorite fall treat.

If mixing two things and pouring them into a pan is too much, combine all the ingredients for these pumpkin oatmeal bars in one bowl and pour them into one dish. Bake for 25 minutes and enjoy some pumpkin-spiced deliciousness (thank you, All The Healthy Things).

If you love candy corn and have already grabbed a bag from the grocery store, you’ll be obsessed with Averie Cooks’ white chocolate blondie recipe that’s loaded with them. Again, it’s just some mixing and dumping and baking, and these look like a fall serotonin boost that’s very much worth that little effort.

When all I have the energy for is churching up a boxed cake mix, I look up a Princess Pinky Girl recipe. This apple cider doughnut cake looks delicious and simple, and she even includes instructions to make it into muffins or bake it in the Instant Pot.

Six-ingredient baking recipes are hard to come by, but Family Fresh Meals’ apple crisp cookie cups are low on effort and ingredients required (bless). They take a bit more assembly than some of the other easy desserts here — you’ll need to shape the cookie dough into the cups and fill each one — but I think the payoff is well worth it.

If there are five minutes standing between you and a full-on mental breakdown, that’s enough time to intervene with DIY Candy’s pumpkin dip. Just whip together cream cheese, pumpkin puree, Cool Whip, and some fall spices. Then use whatever you have at home — pretzels, apple slices, graham crackers — to scoop it into your gob.

You only want to buy four ingredients, you say? Family Fresh Meals has you covered there, too. This bake uses a canned cinnamon roll base, topped with apple pie filling and a little extra pie spice, with a green apple diced and sprinkled throughout for a bit of tartness.

Don’t feel like truly baking? If you’re looking for an easy no-bake fall dessert, Eating Richly’s apple parfaits might be the treat for you. They layer up butterscotch Cool Whip, fresh apples, and pineapple, which I might sub out personally, and mimic the flavor of a caramel apple (but in a cup).

Candied pecans are more of a winter thing, but the smell of roasting nuts and all that cinnamon and sugar instantly makes your home feel cozy and safe. Plus, candied pecans are the perfect thing to snack on while watching a cozy fall movie on a chilly evening. Budget Bytes’ recipe is easy to follow and takes about 35 minutes total.

Damn Delicious’ slow cooker apple pear crisp does involve some chopping of said fruits, but beyond that, you kind of just mix together your topping and layer it all up in the Crockpot. Set it on low for two to three hours or high for 90 minutes — you know your house is going to smell divine — and enjoy it with a scoop of ice cream on top for maximum joy.