By: Karine Chan

Leaves falling, ice cold wind biting at your nose, cuddling up near the fireplace after a long day; what do you think of when fall comes to mind? Personally, the abundance of festive food catches my eye and my nose! The smell of pumpkin, cinnamon warmth is arguably one of the best smells in the world.

Here are five trendy fall foods that will for sure leave you wanting more.

1. Pumpkin Spice Latte

I bought this drink at Starbucks, but you can most likely find it at any coffee house.

★★★★☆

A pumpkin spice latte is essentially coffee mixed with classic fall flavors such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. It also contains a small amount of pumpkin puree which provides the drink with its classic pumpkin flavor. Served hot or cold, this festive drink is topped with whipped cream and pumpkin spice.

I was pleasantly surprised by this drink. As a coffee lover, I thought the pumpkin would just mess with the coffee, but it actually complimented it very nicely. While it was sweeter than I would usually get, it was very tasty. The subtle hints of pumpkin mixed with the classic fall seasonings made it feel so festive! I would recommend this drink to warm you up during a chilly day.

1. Apple Cider

Got my apple cider from Trader Joe’s, you can find it at any grocery store.

★★☆☆☆

Apple Cider is apple juice that has been given time to ferment. The fermentation is what gives this tangy drink its fizz. Apple cider has the perfect balance of sweet and tart. It is also unfiltered and at times unpasteurized.

As expected, the apple cider tastes like fizzy apple juice. It is very sweet and surprisingly refreshing, especially when it’s ice cold. This cider leaves a nice tang in your mouth after drinking. If you’re into sweet, soda-like drinks, apple cider is for you!

1. Pumpkin Bread

I got a single slice of soft pumpkin bread from Starbucks, but if you want a full loaf, check your local markets.

★★★★☆

Pumpkin bread is a moist quick bread that has pumpkin incorporated into the recipe. You can either cook and soften the pumpkin before putting it into your mix or you can just bake the raw pumpkin with your bread. Oftentimes nuts and berries are added to give the bread a special touch. Pumpkin seeds are also often added to the top of the bread.

This bread was one of my favorite fall foods that I tried. It was dense but not to the point where it was hard to eat. It had very subtle hints of fall flavors and none of them overpowered. I love pumpkin seeds, so when I saw that this bread has them sprinkled along the top, it felt like a match made in heaven! I would definitely recommend trying this delicious bread.

1. Pumpkin Glazed Cake Donut

I bought this dense donut from Krispy Kreme.

★☆☆☆☆

Krispy Kreme is a very popular donut destination for many, but what a lot of people didn’t know is that they have a seasonal pumpkin spice glazed donut. This donut is very dense and gets drenched in sweet glaze. It is flavored with a bit of pumpkin and fall seasonings such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Krispy Kreme brought this donut back for one day, but people went so crazy for them that they decided to bring it back for about two months.

Honestly, I was disappointed with this donut. It was overwhelmingly sweet with glaze and had little to no pumpkin flavor. It tasted like a classic cake donut with a bit of cinnamon. I would not recommend this donut, instead, go get a cupcake!

1. Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies                   

I made these cookies at my home. The recipe I used is from “Amy’s Healthy Baking”.

★★☆☆☆

Pumpkin pie chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are the perfect balance of pumpkin and oats with slight notes of chocolate. They’re very chewy and not cakey at all! Besides these cookies being very easy to make, they taste like pumpkin pie, what more can you ask for!

These cookies were very soft, light and fluffy. They were so simple to make and did not take long, maybe 45 minutes at max to make and bake. I enjoyed the oats in it because I liked the texture that they gave the cookies. I’m not the biggest fan of pumpkin, and these cookies had a lot of it so they weren’t my favorite. If you like pumpkin, I would definitely encourage you to make these.

All these foods brought different elements to the table; some tangy, lots sweet, and some with surprising kicks! Ranking these foods from least to most favorite, I would say pumpkin glazed cake donut, pumpkin chocolate oatmeal cookies, apple cider, pumpkin spice latte, and pumpkin bread. Feel free to enjoy any of these fun treats while you’re getting into the fall season!