4 Fall Cookie Recipes Inspired by the Season's Best Pies

Between the icy frozen treats of summer and the rich, dense cakes of winter comes the best dessert season of the year: Pie season. But if homemade pies aren't practical for you, try cookie recipes inspired by fall's best flavors -- apple, pumpkin, cherry, pecan -- for smaller treats that are faster, easier, and enough to feed a crowd.

1. Caramel Apple Cookie Sandwiches

Whether your favorite fall apple dessert is a classic pie or a caramel apple on a stick, caramel apple sandwich cookies from Tastes of Lizzy T fit the bill. Apple spice oatmeal drop cookies incorporate traditional spices -- cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg -- while homemade brown sugar cinnamon buttercream and a drizzle of salted caramel add extra sweetness. Serve them with hot cider after trick-or-treating or at a casual autumn open house.

2. Pecan Pie Cookies

This recipe for pecan pie cookies from Spend with Pennies cuts down on the mixing and prep time for the dough by using a premade pie crust as the base of the cookie; cutting out identical circles with a 3-inch round cookie cutter keeps the whole batch consistent. The filling, though, takes a little more work: Mix butter, pecans, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, and eggs, and stir constantly while it heats and thickens. After the cookies are baked and cooled, melt chocolate chips to drizzle over the top of the cookies for a sweet, crunchy topping on a light and flaky crust -- just like your favorite pecan pie.

3. Pumpkin Pie Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin pie sugar cookies combine canned pumpkin, pie spice, and cream cheese to make a rich, flavorful pie-inspired filling. But instead of the usual graham cracker or flaked crust, the recipe calls for a sugar cookie base with balls of dough pressed into muffin cups. The end result is a batch of individually-sized pies -- topped with a dollop of cream cheese frosting -- that look as good as they taste.

4. Cherry Pie Cookies

Most recipe for cherry pie cookies rely on canned cherry pie filling and premade pie crust or cookie dough, making them a quick and easy dessert you can throw together for a holiday dessert table (or a weeknight treat). This recipe from Butter with a Side of Bread uses a homemade sugar cookie dough -- instead of refrigerated -- baked in mini muffin cups to form bite-sized pies topped with canned cherries and a drizzle of white chocolate.