No season is a colorful blaze like autumn. When the smell of nuts & apples lies in the air, it is this time of the year when baking is fun again. These 3 autumn-inspired recipes are going to bring the flavours of fall to your home! From rustic apple cake to luscious pear-chocolate cake and hearty sweet potato-pecan pie, the sweetness of these pies will make you love autumn even more. And in case you have had too much dessert, just take a walk in nature – it doesn`t get more beautiful than this!

“THE FLAVOURS OF FALL”

1. Rustic Apple Pie

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• 100 g brown sugar
• 100 g butter
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml milk
• 2 apples for dough + 2 apples for topping (preferably Boskoop)
• 250 g flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 stp. cinnamon and 1 tbsp. brown sugar for topping
• Icing sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. Start by beating the butter and sugar with a mixer until creamy.
3. Add the eggs one after the other and stir well. Pour in the milk, the flour mixed with the baking powder and keep stirring.
4. Fold in the mixture 2 chopped, peeled apples.
5. Cover a baking form with baking paper and fill in the batter.
6. Cut 2 more apples into slices. Spread the apple slices on top of the dough and sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar.
7. Bake the cake in the oven for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
8. Let the cake cool and decorate with some icing sugar!

 2. Luscious Pear-Chocolate Cake

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• 3 medium-sized firm pears, peeled with the stem left on
• 750ml dry white wine
• 250g sugar
• 4 cloves
• 3 star anise
• 8 cardamom pods
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Mmmh…PEAR-LICIOUS!

For the Cake:

• 200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 200g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200g self-rising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 100g dark chocolate (for decoration)

Instructions

1. Poach the pears: In a large saucepan, combine the pears, wine, sugar, cloves, star anise, cardamom, and cinnamon and poach for 30 minutes over low heat.
2. Take the pears out of the liquid and set aside to cool.
3. Add 500ml water to the poaching liquid and boil to reduce the liquid by half. Set aside and let cool.

Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C
2. Grease a loaf pan and put aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy.
4. Beat in the eggs one at the time and beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.
5. Sift the flour and salt over the batter and fold it in.
6. Spoon the batter into the pan. Press the pears in, stem end up
7. Bake for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean
8. Allow to cool in the pan, then gently remove the cake from the pan to a rack to cool completely
9. Before serving, set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
10. Stir the chocolate in the bowl until melted. Using a spoon, drizzle the dark chocolate over the cake and create nice stripes on top.
11. Let the chocolate dry for a bit and serve the cake.

Original Recipe from: HEINSTIRRED

3. Hearty Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

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  “Nuts, why are you so sweet?!”

For the crust:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 cup flour

For the sweet potato filling:

• 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 1 tbsp. heavy cream

For the pecan filling:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

1. Start by making the crust: Blend butter and sugar until light & fluffy. Add the beaten egg and milk. Stir in the flour and knead all ingredients. wrap in a plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least one hour.
2. Heat the oven to 150 degrees Celcius (300 degrees Fahrenheit).
3. Make the potato filling: Peel and cook the potatoes on a large pot. Smash the cooked potatoes with a fork and stir in the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, beaten egg and heavy cream until the mixture is smooth.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and place the dough into the baking form. Spread the potato filling on top of the dough.
5. Make the pecan filling: Sprinkle the sweet potato filling with pecans. Combine sugar, eggs, melted butter, corn syrup, salt cinnamon & vanilla and beat well.  Pour over the pecans.
6. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Original Recipe from: Paul Prudhomme via NY Times Cooking

Tip: To avoid the pecans getting too dark, you can also sprinkle them over the pie in the last minutes of baking!