24 Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Desserts That Are Easy To Take on the Go

When you’re planning to hit the road for the holidays, the last thing you want to deal with is figuring out how to bake and transport a fussy dessert last-minute. Nobody wants to spend Thanksgiving morning baking, much less hold a pie plate on their lap the entire ride — or worry about a sheet pan or casserole dish sliding around in the trunk. But don’t give up on arriving with a homemade Thanksgiving dessert just yet. We’ve got plenty of travel-friendly ideas that you can make in advance and take on the go, including Thanksgiving cookies, fall-themed cupcakes and even pumpkin bread.

One of our favorites? These decadent chocolate brownies, topped with a sweet and crunchy layer of pecan pie. To ensure the layers stay distinct when these two classic desserts come together, the brownie is baked first, then the nut filling is layered over it and baked again. In the oven, the syrup seeps into the brownies, keeping them moist and rich.

These charming cupcakes capture all the flavors of pumpkin pie in easy-to-follow steps for a showstopping dessert. Made with a full 15-ounce can of pumpkin purée and nicely spiced for warmth, the cupcakes are exceptionally moist and tender. They're topped with a simple pumpkin spice buttercream for extra fall flavor, then decorated to resemble miniature pumpkin pies. Plus, with their flat-top design, they're easier to transport than other cupcakes that feature towering swirls of frosting.

Much like carrot cake, pumpkin desserts pair beautifully with cream cheese frosting. Perhaps it's the tang that the cream cheese brings, a foil to the luscious, warming mouthfeel of spiced pumpkin, but this pairing always brings desserts to life! Utilizied here, and topped delicately with individual pecans, these cookies marry sweet, sour and slightly savory — in one delicious bite.

This delicious rum cake is the perfect way to liven up your Thanksgiving dessert table. It’s packed with classic fall flavors, perfect for a crowd and super-easy to make thanks to boxed yellow cake mix and instant vanilla pudding — a baker’s secret that creates an unbelievably moist cake with delicious vanilla flavor. A true Thanksgiving-worthy treat, it has a decadent buttered rum glaze and a crunchy topping and filling featuring pecans, white chocolate, dark brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice — which makes it far easier to transport than a cake that's decorated with frosting.

The dough for these spiced autumn cookies is easily made in a food processor, much like pie dough, but with softened butter. Get festive with the decorating by making fall leaves or turkeys using halved candy corns or pecans for the tail feathers.

A Thanksgiving spread — or any holiday spread, really — deserves a dessert table. And, what better to include on that spread than a portable treat that's just the right size for rounding out a night of eating and drinking? Better yet, this recipe marries two fall favorite desserts: pumpkin pie and cheesecake.

When you think of warm, comforting, winter spices, what do you think of? We think of cinnamon, clove, cardamom...which naturally makes us think of cookies! The classic snickerdoodle is a cinnamon-lover's delight, but here, we swap out plain cinnamon for some seasonal pumpkin pie spice and add pumpkin puree to the dough for a fluffy cookie with a chewy crust — every cookie aficionado's dream.

Though you usually shouldn’t mess with a classic, we did, and we’re glad. We transformed everyone’s favorite apple pie into an all-new dessert by giving cupcakes a gooey apple pie filling and the transformative finale: a slightly tangy sour cream whipped topping.

We turned the fall staple into a cool and refreshing no-bake dip perfect for family gatherings. As an added bonus, it's much easier to transport than a fresh-from-the-oven pie!

If sweet potato is your pie of choice then these cookies are for you: They channel all the flavor of that Southern favorite in a fun two-bite package. The crust comes together quickly and gets pressed into a mini-muffin tin, no rolling necessary. We bake the crumble topping separately to keep it crisp and easy to put on the cookies after they come out of the oven — or when you arrive at your host's house for dinner.

Not a fan of juggling pie tins on the ride to your Thanksgiving host's house? Neither are we. That's why we love these crunchy pumpkin bars that combine the flavors of two favorites into one, easy-to-transport bite.

These cupcakes were inspired by one of our favorite holiday pies. We toasted the pecans and finely ground them into a flour (replacing some all-purpose flour) to make the cupcakes, and we topped the cupcakes off with a brown-butter frosting you'll want to make again and again (it's perfect on banana bread). Store-bought dulce de leche spooned on top is an easy way to bring on pecan pie's gooeyness.

Double the holiday fun with these spiced pumpkin gingerbread bars! Soft and cakey with a slight chew, these bars feature two distinct layers: pumpkin and gingerbread, which get drizzled with an irresistible cream cheese icing. While the bars look impressive, the recipe is very easy to put together with a minimal number of bowls and no electric mixer.

There is no dessert more underrated but more beloved than a whoopie pie. A bite-sized (ok, maybe a few bites) pillowy treat, there's something whimsical about whoopie pies — something that reminds us of a simpler time, of childhood, and of grabbing a treat at the cornerstore before you ride your bike home. This recipe takes that sentiment and puts a fall spin on it, pairing everyone's favorite dessert flavor (chocolate) with a delicately-spiced cream cheese filling that's light on the tongue but heavy on the taste.

These sweet cupcakes are a fall favorite. The tender, moist cake is topped with tangy cream cheese icing spiked with tons of cinnamon. The coziest cupcakes for the coziest season!

You can enjoy three of your favorite Thanksgiving pies in just one dessert with these tasty pie bars. Layers of prepared pie dough are baked until golden brown, then stacked among pecan pie, pumpkin pie and apple pie fillings, sprinkled with a super-simple crumb topping and baked to perfection. Serve the bars as is or a la mode like traditional pie for an impressive and fun holiday treat.

Pumpkin and gingerbread, two favorite holiday flavors, come together in these soft and fluffy swirled cookies with a delectable crisp edge. Inspired by snickerdoodles, these slice-and-bake treats are rolled in pumpkin spice sugar just before baking, resulting in a sweetly spiced finish.

The ultimate fall loaf (mmm, pumpkin) is totally toteable — and makes a great hostess gift too. Plus, you can make this treat well in advance of the big day. When your loaf is completely cool, wrap it in several layers of plastic wrap. Then, tuck it into a zip-top bag (making sure to squeeze all the air out) and you can freeze it for up to two months.

We know what you're thinking: fried food isn't a good candidate for make-ahead. And, we hear you. But these pies can be made ahead and frozen for several months. That means you can transport them frozen — and fry them up on the spot, after everyone has finished their turkey.

These two-bite treats are a welcome addition to any Thanksgiving dessert spread. And, since they're cut into cubes, they're simple to pack up and take on the go (without worrying about how they'll look when you arrive).

These cake pops are kid friendly both to make and to eat. Get the little ones involved in tearing the cake into crumbs and then dipping the finished pops into white chocolate.

Sunny mixes pecans into her pumpkin pies and makes them bite-size crowd-pleasers.

We know, we know: nobody wants to be worried about a pie (or cake) pan sliding around in the trunk on the drive over to dinner. That's why we prefer to make cheesecake when we need a travel-friendly dessert. You can keep it in the springform pan for protecion — and unmold it when you arrive at your host's house.