Why Autumn Is Ina Garten's Absolute Favorite Time Of Year For Dessert

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Fall is a special time of year for Ina Garten, and not just because this beloved celeb chef makes the absolute best mashed potatoes for your Thanksgiving spread! For the Barefoot Contessa, the bounty of fall fruits like apples and pears coming into season means the time is right for some of her favorite desserts. On her Substack feed, Garten specifically called out French apple tarts and pear clafoutis as two such delights but stated that she wasn't shy about dishing up some unadorned cut fruit with a bit of brie when she had unexpected company!

While Garten famously shared that she thinks bringing Jell-O salad to a dinner party is a red flag, we bet that she'd give two enthusiastic thumbs up to your favorite apple turnover recipe. There's a reason, after all, that we mow down apple and pumpkin baked goods when the leaves start to turn ... in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn is peak season for these crops. This is the time of year when your pie-making skills really get put to the test, especially with Turkey Day and the winter holidays just around the corner. Garten herself shared a delicious recipe for a deep-dish apple pie worthy of a Norman Rockwell painting in her 2002 cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa Family Style: Easy Ideas and Recipes That Make Everyone Feel Like Family." When serving a glorious fall dessert to your loved ones, don't be afraid to augment it with Ina Garten's own guilty pleasure, store-bought vanilla ice cream!

You know about pumpkins, pears, and apples, but your autumnal desserts need not be limited to just those (delicious) specimens. Cranberries, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and quinces all shine in the fall, to say nothing of sweet potatoes, which have almost as many sweet as savory applications. As we've already mentioned, pies are plentiful on dessert tables this time of year, but don't be afraid to veer off course and whip up something a little novel. An Italian grape cake, or torta Bertolina, is just as yummy as pumpkin pie and so much more unexpected in many homes. Ina Garten would also probably approve of the simplicity of baked quince with honey, which steams in a brandy syrup, or a cranberry upside-down cake that's as beautiful as it is delicious. Not the biggest fan of sweet potato pie? How about a sweet potato crème brûlée, which is decadent enough for dessert but can easily swap for that cloying, marshmallow-studded casserole on your Thanksgiving plate?

What do all these alternative autumnal desserts have in common? They take well-known formats for sweets and give them a spin with fruits that you might not reach for as often as their more popular brethren from the fall harvest. That gives you the opportunity to surprise and delight your loved ones and guests when you're hosting a get-together on a cool autumn night.