Enjoy classic fall flavors with these highly rated, diabetes-friendly desserts, from cinnamon rolls to cozy apple crisp.
Reviewed by Dietitian Madeline Peck, RDN, CDN
Savor some classic fall flavors with these tasty desserts. Each dish will satisfy your sweet tooth while still being diabetes-friendly, since they are lower in saturated fat, carbs, calories and sodium. Plus, they are highly rated—with at least four stars from our readers—so you can rest assured they’ll be delicious. Enjoy options like our Air-Fryer Whole-Wheat Cinnamon Rolls or Cinnamon Streusel Fresh Apple Bars all season long.
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Air-Fryer Whole-Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Don’t skip the rise time before air-frying these cinnamon rolls. It helps make them pillowy instead of dense. Raisins and walnuts are packed into each bite of these sweet rolls.
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Diabetes-Friendly Carrot Cake
With this luscious take on an all-time favorite, you can fit this low-added sugar cake into your eating pattern.
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2-Bite Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Tarts
These mini pumpkin cheesecakes are a festive dessert for any gathering, especially Thanksgiving. Feel free to sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top to amp up the warm, cozy flavors. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own with a mix of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Use leftover pumpkin puree in muffins, soup and more.
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Classic chocolate chip cookies get a fall update by mixing in pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice. Not only are these pumpkin cookies even more flavorful than regular chocolate chip cookies, they’re also oh-so-soft and cakelike. Use chocolate chunks for big gooey bites of chocolate or opt for mini chocolate chips to ensure a bit of chocolate in each bite.
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Cinnamon Streusel Fresh Apple Bars
These sweet, cinnamon-flavored apple bars are the perfect accompaniment for your afternoon cup of coffee or tea.
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Apple Pie in an Apple
Here we fill hollowed out apples with apple pie filling, top with a pie crust lattice, and bake them until golden brown and filling is bubbly.
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Fudgy Flourless Pumpkin Brownies
Pumpkin spice meets chocolate: a match made in heaven. The hypnotizing smell that fills your kitchen when these brownies are done baking is unbeatable. If you don’t have canned pumpkin puree on hand, you can make it from scratch. If you don’t like pumpkin, butternut squash and sweet potato purees will work interchangeably, too. And feel free to store any extra brownies in the fridge for up to 7 days.
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Cranberry-Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
In this installment of Diaspora Dining, Jessica B. Harris’ series on foods of the African diaspora, the author and historian rings in some changes to the Christmas traditions of her own childhood.
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Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This healthy pumpkin sheet cake is perfectly spiced from the pumpkin pie spice blend, a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. A tangy, sweet cream cheese frosting helps balance the flavors. This cake is perfect for any fall gathering.
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Pumpkin Brownies
These healthy pumpkin brownies are packed with mini chocolate chips. Warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves pair well with the chocolate for a seasonal twist on a classic dessert. The batter will be thick, so be sure to spread it in an even layer for even baking.
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Air-Fryer Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Tahini Cookies
We put a twist on a classic oatmeal-raisin cookie with the addition of tahini and walnuts. Tahini adds a hint of salty, nutty flavor, while toasted walnuts bring a satisfying crunch.
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Apple Crisp for One
If you have an apple in your refrigerator, then you’re just a few steps away from a simple, delicious dessert. We like green apples for their tart flavor and firmness, but Honeycrisp, Jonagold or Braeburn apples will work too.
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Ginger & Spice Crackles
These soft and moist cookies are spiked with ginger, cinnamon and a hint of clove and they crackle on top when they bake. Rolling them in powdered sugar gives them a lightly sweet coating on the outside that looks like a dusting of fresh fallen snow.
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No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
We gave no-bake cookies a healthy makeover, bumping up the peanut butter and cutting back on added sugar and butter. The result is a chewy, peanut buttery, oat-packed delicious cookie. It’s easy to whip up a batch of these—only a few simple ingredients are needed to make these chewy peanut butter cookies and there’s no baking required.
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Spiced Pumpkin Cookies
The deep flavors of molasses, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg make these wholesome pumpkin cookies delicious without the addition of butter—and they lend themselves beautifully to the inclusion of whole-wheat flour. They are also the perfect texture for a sandwich cookie—fill them with a slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting.
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Apple-Oatmeal Cookies
These healthy apple cookies made with oats, shredded apples and brown sugar make snack time enjoyable for everybody.
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