Nutella Pumpkin Spice Bars

I find most of the recipes I use online, and that is always the first place that I look when I am finding a recipe to use up an ingredient. My husband and I often visit my Mom to help her with things around the house. Recently when we were there, I came across a Better Homes & Gardens magazine that had a fantastic muffin pictured on the cover. There were other great recipes in the magazine, and my mom said she had read it already, so I brought it home.

I can’t think of the last time I found a recipe in a magazine, but this recipe was one that I knew would be good. While pumpkin isn’t my favorite ingredient, I tried to make at least one pumpkin recipe per year. These, with Nutella, sounded fantastic. The recipe was pretty easy to assemble, although swirling chocolate/Nutella into batter can be a challenge. This time it went fairly well, as you heat up the Nutella in advance to make it more supple.

The batter for these bars is nice and smooth. Canned pumpkin is difficult to measure, so I measured it by weight. That’s a good tip for anything difficult to measure or is super sticky (peanut butter, etc.). Pour the batter in the pan, swirl with Nutella, then bake. I wasn’t sure how long to bake the bars; I opted for the longer time. Still, these bars are soft and cake-like, which is what I expect for most recipes with pumpkin. I do like the spice flavor of these, and combined with Nutella, make a very tasty bar cookie!

Nutella Pumpkin Spice Bars
1-1/3 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup Nutella

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat together the pumpkin, vegetable oil, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on medium until smooth. With the mixer running on low, gradually add flour mixture, until the mixture is not lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top. Place the Nutella in a bowl and microwave for 30-60 seconds to soften. Drizzle the Nutella over the batter and then using a thin knife, swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a thin knife inserted into the batter comes out clean. Cool for at least an hour before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, October 2025

Oatmeal Date Smash Cookies

I am a big fan of King Arthur Baking, and have even taken a couple of classes from them at their location in Skagit Valley. They came up with a list of fall bakes and I noted down quite a few of those recipes! One was this oatmeal date cookie, and I hadn’t baked with dates in a while. I wasn’t familiar with “smash” cookies, but you partially bake them and then smash them down with a spatula and then finish baking.

While I didn’t change the ingredients in these cookies, I did change the size of the cookies. The original recipe called for making the cookies 80 grams, and the entire recipe only made 8 cookies. Those would be really huge cookies! I knew I wanted to make more regular sized cookies, so I made the cookies 25 grams, which yielded 28 cookies. 

Changing the size also impacted the baking time, which initially was to bake for 15 minutes, then smash the cookies, then return them to a turned-off oven for 5 minutes. Well that works for 8 cookies, but not in my case. I kept the oven on the entire time, baked for 8-9 minutes, smashed them, then baked for a couple more minutes, which made for lovely golden cookies. The combination of oats and dates is perfect for this time of year, when the weather starts to turn (and all you want to do is stay home and bake).

Oatmeal Date Smash Cookies
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dates

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the egg and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture and stir until the flour almost disappears. Stir in the dates, making sure the dough comes together.  

Shape the cookies: divide the dough into balls, each weighing about 25 grams. Place on a parchment-lined tray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least several hours.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

Place the chilled dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving room between each cookie. I found that placing 10 cookies on each sheet allowed for plenty of room. 

Bake for 9 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and smash/flatten the cookies with a spatula. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, until golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

Cinnamon Chai Blondies

They are doing a lot of road construction around our area, and I have gotten to the point that I almost don’t want to go anywhere. First, they closed the road to the left of our place. That’s back open but now they have closed the road to the right. That is more inconvenient in some ways, as now I have to take a different route to work. And there are many more stoplights to contend with. I’m just hopeful that all of these closures will make the area better in the end.

I’m in the house and when I am home, I want to bake. For this recipe, I wanted something homey, but I also knew that I wouldn’t be taking them elsewhere. I looked for a small batch recipe, and this recipe was perfect. The blondies are a simple brown sugar blondie, then you top it with a mix of chai-inspired spices. The original recipe called for ¼ teaspoon of cardamom, which isn’t my favorite, so I simply added some additional ginger.

These baked up well but sank a little as they cooled. Sometimes that means that they needed to bake more, but I would be hesitant to do that with these blondies, which seemed perfectly baked. You want these to have a soft texture, so baking more would likely dry them out. Some bakers noted that they were unable to find cinnamon chips, which can be a challenge. I tend to order them online, where they are consistently available, as I love cinnamon chips and I’m happy to use them whenever I can!

Cinnamon Chai Blondies
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cinnamon chips

2 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cloves

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium, until the mixture is light. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again on medium to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until the dough just comes together. Fold in the cinnamon chips with a spatula. 

Spread the dough in the prepared pan. Make the chai topping: in a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Sprinkle the chai topping over the unbaked blondies.

Bake for 20 minutes, until the bars begin to brown along the edges. Allow the blondies to cool before removing them from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from The Salted Sweets

Butterscotch Spice Crinkles

It seems like the weather has gotten cooler and now all I want to do is bake fall things! Anything that is ginger or spiced is what I want to make. While I honestly do use these warming spices throughout the year, it’s even more acute during the fall. I have recently been to local fairs and have some interesting ingredients that I now need to find the right recipe. I do love this time of year!

Butterscotch is a flavor that used to be very popular, but I don’t think that it is as common as it once was. Most of the time, I see butterscotch used in combination with other ingredients, such as it’s use the Harry Potter classic Butter Beer. I have used butterscotch before, in shortbread and in combination with oats. This combines butterscotch with spices, perfect for fall.

I like this recipe a lot since it comes together so quickly; you don’t need to refrigerate the dough or any nuance like that. I had picked up butterscotch chips previously, and that is the only uncommon ingredient. I had these baked up right after I got home from work, I felt so efficient! These cookies are on the sweet side, but after the first bite the sweetness and the spices meld together to make a lovely fall cookie. 

Butterscotch Spice Crinkles
1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
11 ounces butterscotch chips
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Stir in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until the flour almost disappears. Add the butterscotch chips and mix until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the dough balls in powdered sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand. 

Bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are cracked and set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Let’s Dish

Spiced Pistachio Cookies

My husband occasionally finds recipes and sends them to me, and that is the case with this recipe. It was originally called a gingerbread pistachio date sugar cookie, and that sounded so good. I pinned the recipe, but my pin got a little strange, so I found a different link that worked better. The original recipe was in grams and milliliters, and while I do prefer using grams while baking, it may not be familiar to everyone. I have used a combination of grams and volumetric measures.

I love pistachios and try to always keep them on hand. The spices used in these are also something that I use all the time. I have another recipe that called for dates, so I recently stocked up on those. This recipe, however, doesn’t use dates but uses date sugar. I think I may have had date sugar after visiting a date farm years ago, but no longer. Molasses was the suggested substitution, so I used that.

These come together quickly, although I think it took just as much time to adapt some of the measurements to teaspoons. The dough is very sticky, and refrigeration is a must. I refrigerated the dough for about two and a half hours, and it was still fairly sticky. I found that the cookies spread quite a bit, but the flavor is fantastic. Perhaps I used a heavy hand when adding the spices, but I’m not complaining! These are perfect for fall, and they smelled out of this world while baking.  

Spiced Pistachio Cookies
240 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger 
½ teaspoon cloves 
1/2 teaspoon salt
180 grams butter, room temperature
100 grams sugar
115 grams brown sugar
5 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 egg
120 grams pistachios 
Cinnamon sugar

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until fully incorporated. Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and mix on medium again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When the dough is cohesive, remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the pistachios with a spatula.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the balls in cinnamon sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between the dough balls.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack.

Recipe from Bengingi

Cinnamon Coffee Crinkles

It’s been a busy week, and I had planned to make these cookies much earlier and share them with others, but that didn’t happen. In hindsight, I guess that is ok since this recipe made about 25 cookies and that perhaps isn’t enough to share. I could have, but then there are fewer at home to enjoy! Not having cookies at home is a sad prospect.

These cookies aren’t difficult and are quick to make. The original recipe mentions that the dough is sticky, and it sure was! The suggestion was to chill the dough for 30 minutes, which seemed an awfully short time, but when I checked the dough after about half an hour, it had firmed up nicely. You could chill the cookies longer and I think you would be good.

A while back, I was choosing a recipe to make, and this was one of the contenders at the time. While I didn’t make these at that time, I did remember the part about rolling the dough in sugar. I rolled those cookies in the two sugars, and I did with these as well! A little more sugar is a good thing. These lovely cookies are perfectly crinkled and have a lovely coffee/brown sugar flavor. I’m not too sad that there aren’t as many to share…

Cinnamon Coffee Crinkles
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla 
½ cup butter, melted
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
Sugar and Powdered Sugar (for rolling)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a separate bowl, dissolve the instant espresso powder into the vanilla.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the melted butter and brown sugar on medium until smooth. Stir in the egg and espresso/vanilla mixture. Beat to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” rounds. Roll in sugar and then roll a second time in the powdered sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. The cookies will be crinkled. Allow the coolies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Bean Leaf Cup

Cinnamon Apple Bars

It’s fall and I am so excited to have many recipes to make and a cooler house to bake in! Work is starting back, and despite all the stress of work, a sweet treat is always appreciated. This week, I had a big meeting with colleagues, some who aren’t aware of all of the baking I do. I brought these cookies, and they were a big hit! 

I love baking with apples, and my husband had purchased some cinnamon dried apples to use in recipes. I had used these before, and used up all of them very quickly, so I was happy to have more. They can be used (in most recipes) in the place of fresh apples. Sometimes I have fresh apples, sometimes I don’t This recipe also gave options to use for the additional chips: cinnamon, caramel, toffee, etc. I used cinnamon chips since the apples I used also contained cinnamon.

I did bake these on what turned out to be a warm day, but they were quick to assemble and baked up in under 25 minutes. The dough is sticky, and it isn’t the easiest thing to spread in the pan but do your best. These were a dream to cut, and the flavors are fantastic! The dried cinnamon apples give the bars some chewiness, and the combination of brown sugar and cinnamon is fantastic. These are so easy, and it would be fun to try different fruit and chip varieties.

Cinnamon Apple Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup diced cinnamon apples
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until light. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Using a spatula, fold in the cinnamon apples and cinnamon chips.

Spread the dough as evenly as possible in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the bars look set. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from Closet Cooking