4 delicious ways to freshen up your pumpkin baking this fall

Molly Baz and other cookbook authors around the country share four new autumnal desserts that aren't your classic pumpkin pie.

School’s in high gear, the weather is getting crisper and there are pumpkins are everywhere, from front porches to grocery store displays … all of which signals one thing: It’s the start of the fall baking season!

This year, instead of celebrating pumpkin season with a traditional pie, consider showcasing the iconic golden squash in one of these desserts, each sourced from a different cookbook coming out this fall from Molly Baz, Michael Symon and other noted food writers.

Hosting a fall brunch? Try wowing guests with a Pumpkin Bundt Cake topped with a maple cream glaze. It has all the traditional pumpkin-pie spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice — with a maple-mascarpone glaze that takes it over the top. The recipe hails from New York food writer Samantha Seneviratne, whose new cookbook, “Bake Smart: Sweets and Secrets from My Oven to Yours” ((Harvest, $35), hits bookstores on Nov. 7.

Looking for a show-stopping bake of the maximalist variety? Try the ambitious Pumpkin Cannoli Cheesecake Cake, which comes courtesy of Molly Baz, the former Bon Appetit food editor and online-video host whose first cookbook, 2021’s “Cook This Book,” rocketed up The New York Times’ best-seller list. She’s following that debut with another cookbook, “More Is More: Get Loose in the Kitchen” (publishing Oct. 10 from Clarkson Potter) that emphasizes her love of bold, bracing flavors — more garlic, more vinegar, more mortadella, more… well, basically everything.

“My pumpkin cake (it’s a cake, let’s just admit it) doubles down on ginger — there’s both freshly grated ginger in the batter and crystallized ginger in the cheesecake filling — because why settle for just one expression of fall’s quintessential ingredient when you can have two?!” Baz writes.

Want a decadent and chocolaty take on pumpkin pie? Look for inspiration from Michael Symon, the grinning, shiny-pated genie of so many reality-food shows. He and coauthor Douglas Trattner teamed up to write “Simply Symon Suppers” (Clarkson Potter, $35), a compendium of 165 recipes that includes a silky chocolate pumpkin pie recipe.

“If a flourless chocolate cake and a classic pumpkin pie had a love child, it would be this silky, sinful dessert,” writes Symon. “I made a version of it for Thanksgiving during the second season of (ABC’s) ‘The Chew,’ and it absolutely blew up on my social media pages. You can cheat a little by using a store-bought crust.”

For a more straightforward, travel-friendly bake, throw some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in the oven. This recipe comes from Colleen Worthington, cofounder of Kneaders Bakery and Cafe, which has locations across Western states from Nevada to Colorado.

“(These cookies) are so good,” she says, “they just may become your tradition as well.”