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Salted caramel cravings
Since the holidays are all about indulging, why not consider whipping up a salted caramel cheesecake pie, like this one included on Joy the Baker?
Featuring a gingersnap golden crust, Joy walks you through just how easy it is to make this trending delicious pie, with some darn good photography to boot. As for making the actual caramel (which, we’ll admit, sounds a little scary), Joy says, “All you need is enough courage to boil sugar and water until it browns. If you have the balls to do that … you’re on the sweet, sweet road to caramel.” Sounds simple enough, right?! Don’t miss out on the full recipe and the fantastic photography included!
Thanksgiving trifles
Bakers Royale’s Naomi put out a call on Facebook asking if readers would rather see fancy desserts that require extra time in the kitchen or easy desserts with elegance. Unsurprisingly, easy elegance won by a landslide, and Naomi was quick to offer up these gorgeous, yet simple caramel apple trifles.
Made with layers of caramel mousse, caramel sauce and apple crumble (containing fresh apple bits, granola and apple chips), this is one dessert that is no-fuss fabulous, yet that’s sure to be an attention-grabber. For the first-time trifle-makers out there, Naomi warns: If you must take a store-bought shortcut with the caramel sauce, stay away from Hershey’s. Instead, she recommends the Marzetti’s Caramel Apple Dipping Sauce typically found near the apples in the produce section.
Chocolate turtle apple slices
We first saw these chocolate turtle apple slices from Mom Loves Baking being repinned like crazy on Pinterest — and it’s easy to see why!
This is a perfect idea for jazzing up some simple apple slices. To make these delectable treats, simply cut some thick apple slices and put them on popsicle sticks. From there, your kids will love dunking the slices in melted chocolate, then drizzling them with caramel and toasted pecans.
Pint-sized pumpkin pies
And while we’re on the topic of small, must-have Thanksgiving treats, we also can’t get enough of these pumpkin pie bites featured on Bakerella!
Perfect as appetizers or dessert poppers, these mini pumpkin pies are ridiculously adorable, and Bakerella adds that they are extremely easy to make! A store-bought pie crust results in about 24 mini pies per batch. Check out the full post for the recipe and additional decorating ideas.
Seasonal cheescake love
We are total suckers for cheesecake, so it’s hard to imagine a better fit for Thanksgiving dessert than this recipe for pumpkin cheesecake bars featured on A Treats Affair.
If you, too, are looking to put a new spin on this year’s pumpkin dessert, this recipe is a great pick. These bars are the perfect combination of cheesecake and pumpkin pie in one, ideal for families on Thanksgiving or any day you fancy a delicious fall treat.
Pretty little pumpkins
To feed her peanut butter cravings, Lidia of Yummiest Food shows off these adorable truffles disguised as mini pumpkins — it doesn’t get much sweeter than this!
To make these cute little gourds, you’ll need some peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, orange food coloring and chocolate chips. The mixture is simply rolled into balls and then shaped with a toothpick. Top with a chocolate chip, and hey, presto!, you’ve got yourself a pumpkin. Kids will love helping to make their own cute little pumpkins.
Turkey sugar high
These little gobbler treats featured on Our Best Bites are sure to be a hit at your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner if you’ve got a gaggle of little ones running around. Plus, your tots can set up shop and make these all on their own, while you perfect Grandma’s gravy — a win-win for all.
Easily made using Oreos, peanut butter cups, Whoppers and candy corn, these sweet little birds are held together with colorful frosting. Also included in this post: how to make some equally darling pilgrim hats.
Sweet turkey treats
We love these sweet little turkey sugar cookies featured on Bake at 350 — and we’re sure your little one will feel the same as they’re gobbling them up on Thanksgiving!
To make these vibrant turkey cuties, Mama Bridget used a flower cookie cutter for the plume, a circle cookie cutter for the face and a triangle for the feet. To finish the job, she added festive food coloring to royal icing to deck out her little holiday birds. Check out the full post for more details and a link to a step-by-step video on how to create these sweet little birds!
Whoopin’ it up
There is definitely a reason why whoopie pies are making a major comeback… And these pumpkin whoopie pies featured on Thin Crust, Deep Dish are just too good not to share!
These particular whoopie pies are made with a cream cheese filling, and Kylie promises that they’re not only a must-serve at the Thanksgiving meal, but that they’ll keep well on parchment paper in the fridge for up to three days. We think it’s pretty safe to say that you can never go wrong with dessert leftovers!
Cool Thanksgiving dessert
If it is ice cream that you happen to be hoping for this holiday season, don’t miss out on Brown-Eyed Baker’s recipe for delicious homemade pumpkin ice cream!
To make this cool holiday dessert, the bulk of the work requires only a matter of mixing, heating and chilling your ingredients. Don’t have an ice cream maker? No worries — Michelle’s also got a recipe for that, too!
Delightful holiday donuts
Got a house full of donut lovers? Treat them to some homemade, baked pumpkin and ice-cream-glazed donuts this Thanksgiving, like these treats featured on Picky Palate. And, yes, you heard right: ice cream + pumpkin + donuts!
Homemade donuts may have always seemed unachievable without a deep fryer, but Mama Jenny shows you just how easy these delicious baked treats can be, and how ice cream can be used to add a “bouncy texture” with a “vanilla kick.” (Downright heavenly, we know!) Check out the full post for an excellent walk-through and recipe.
Apple pie minis
If you’ve yet to have check out Smitten Kitchen, you’re sure to have a new favorite food blog bookmarked after reading about Mama Deb’s teeny-tiny apple pie cookies.
Affectionately referred to as “tookie pies” by her pint-sized sous chef, these American classic minis she assures are not “too much work” or too “overly precious.” After taking her first bite, Deb realized that she had to share this recipe because “fall would have been slightly less awesome this year without it.” One warning about these adorable treats: Deb relays that these are best for crust lovers, rather than sweet-seekers, as the “crust-to-filling ratio is off the charts.” Sign us up!
Holiday cookie cravings
We love these pumpkin, toffee chip and Rolo chunk cookies featured on Picky Palate — they’re absolutely genius! Mama Jenny admits that there’s nothing better than the smell of pumpkin and chocolate baking in the oven, and we couldn’t agree more.
To make your own soft and gooey sweet cookies, you’ll only need to have some yellow cake mix, canned pumpkin, mini chocolate chips, toffee chips and some chopped Rolo candies ready to go. Mix all five ingredients together, throw ’em in the oven, and you’re on your way to having some pretty darn tasty (and easy) Thanksgiving dinner treats.
Pumpkin pops
For a pumpkin pie play, we absolutely love these pop cuties featured on Seattle’s own CakeSpy!
Much like Smitten Kitchen’s apple pie cookies, CakeSpy darling Jessie admits that these pops are also a great pick for the family crust lovers, since they, too, have a high crust-to-filling ratio. Jessie assures that this is all the more reason to sweeten up the filling a little bit, creating a darn delicious dessert for all! But, really, who could resist eating a pumpkin pie on a stick? Follow the link for more details and the full recipe.
Pop goes the turkey
If there’s one treat that your tots will surely go ga-ga for this Thanksgiving, we’d put our money on these festive baby-cake turkey pops featured on Bakerella.
Decked out using caramel candy corn, pretzels, espresso beans, candy chips and sprinkles, these little gobblers are sure to be an instant hit with your pint-sized Thanksgiving guests. And, to make sure that you don’t end up with dry turkey on this year’s dessert menu, check out Bakerella’s full post to get her recipe and directions for making super-moist cake pops.
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This story was originally published several years ago and was updated in November 2021.
