Mabel’s 3 Free Printable Dessert Recipes
FROM MABEL JUNE'S KITCHEN
Three free printable dessert recipes—made for real home kitchens.
Well hello, sugar. These are yours to read, save, or print whenever you like. I picked one warm cobbler, one make-ahead icebox cake, and one old-fashioned pudding—each with the little bit of baking help most recipes leave out.
How to use this recipe pack
- Choose one recipe and read it once before you begin.
- Read Mabel's Secret so you know what the ingredients are doing.
- Keep If It Doesn't Look Right close by. Most desserts are not ruined—they just need one small rescue.
Want to keep this handy? Save this page on your phone, or use your browser's Print option when you are ready to bake.
RECIPE 1 OF 3
Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler
Pour, scatter, and walk away, honey. The oven builds this one all by itself.
Serves 8 · Hands-on 10 minutes · Bake 40 to 45 minutes
What you need
- 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick (113 g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120 g)
- 1 cup sugar (200 g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (12 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk (240 ml)
- 4 cups sliced ripe peaches, about 4 large, or 2 cans, 15 ounces each, drained of half their syrup (600 g)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Make it
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Put the butter in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set it in the oven to melt while the oven warms.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the milk until the batter is smooth and thin. Thin is right, sugar.
- Pull out the hot dish and pour the batter over the melted butter. Do not stir it. Just let it be.
- Spoon the peaches and a little of their juice evenly over the batter. Do not stir. Dust the cinnamon over everything.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until the batter has risen golden around the peaches and the middle springs back when pressed lightly.
- Rest 15 minutes. Serve warm in bowls, with ice cream if you have it.
Mabel's Secret
Everything in this dish trades places in the oven. The batter goes in underneath and the fruit sits on top. As the baking powder fires, the batter rises through the butter and around the peaches while the fruit settles into it. Stir it and you blend the layers into plain peach cake. That is why I say do not stir it twice, and mean it both times.
Everything in this dish trades places in the oven. The batter goes in underneath and the fruit sits on top. As the baking powder fires, the batter rises through the butter and around the peaches while the fruit settles into it. Stir it and you blend the layers into plain peach cake. That is why I say do not stir it twice, and mean it both times.
If It Doesn't Look Right
If the middle is gummy while the edges look done, the fruit brought too much juice. Canned peaches especially need half their syrup poured off. Lay foil over the top and bake 10 to 15 minutes more. A gummy middle is underbaked, never spoiled, and warm cobbler with ice cream forgives nearly everything.
If the middle is gummy while the edges look done, the fruit brought too much juice. Canned peaches especially need half their syrup poured off. Lay foil over the top and bake 10 to 15 minutes more. A gummy middle is underbaked, never spoiled, and warm cobbler with ice cream forgives nearly everything.
RECIPE 2 OF 3
Chocolate Icebox Cake
Stack cookies and cream at night, slice a cake in the morning.
Serves 10 · Hands-on 20 minutes · Chill at least 8 hours
What you need
- 3 cups cold heavy cream (720 ml)
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar (23 g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 9 ounces thin crisp chocolate wafer cookies, about 40 wafers (255 g)
- 1 ounce dark chocolate, grated for the top (28 g), if you like
Make it
- Chill your bowl and beaters for 15 minutes if the kitchen is warm. Whip the cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until the cream holds firm peaks.
- Spread a thin smear of cream down the center of a serving platter to anchor the first cookies.
- Build small stacks. Spread cream on a wafer, top with another wafer, and continue until each stack is 6 or 7 cookies tall.
- Lay the stacks on their sides, end to end, so they form one long log. Nudge them snug together.
- Frost the whole log with the remaining cream. Cover every bit of cookie so none is left in the open air.
- Cover loosely and refrigerate overnight, at least 8 hours. Add grated chocolate and slice on the diagonal to show the stripes.
Mabel's Secret
The wafers and whipped cream trade places overnight. Dry cookies drink moisture from the cream, their starch softens until they cut like chocolate cake, and the cream firms as it gives that water away. Time is doing the baking. Slice at hour two and you have crackers and cream. Slice at hour eight and you have cake. The clock is an ingredient.
The wafers and whipped cream trade places overnight. Dry cookies drink moisture from the cream, their starch softens until they cut like chocolate cake, and the cream firms as it gives that water away. Time is doing the baking. Slice at hour two and you have crackers and cream. Slice at hour eight and you have cake. The clock is an ingredient.
If It Doesn't Look Right
If the cookies are still crunchy, press the cut faces back together, cover the cake, and give it 4 more hours in the refrigerator. The cookies will keep drinking right where they left off. If stale, waxy wafers refuse to soften even overnight, serve it frozen and call it an icebox slice.
If the cookies are still crunchy, press the cut faces back together, cover the cake, and give it 4 more hours in the refrigerator. The cookies will keep drinking right where they left off. If stale, waxy wafers refuse to soften even overnight, serve it frozen and call it an icebox slice.
RECIPE 3 OF 3
Creamy Stovetop Rice Pudding
The pudding that tastes like a warm kitchen on a cold afternoon.
Serves 6 · About 50 minutes · Mostly gentle stirring
What you need
- 1/2 cup long-grain white rice (95 g)
- 1 cup water (240 ml)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups whole milk (960 ml)
- 1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
- 1/2 cup raisins, if your family likes them (75 g)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter (14 g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (7 ml)
- Cinnamon, for the top
Make it
- Put the rice, water, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until the water is gone.
- Stir in the milk and sugar and bring the mixture just to a bare simmer.
- Cook uncovered over low heat for 30 to 35 minutes. Stir every few minutes from the start, until the rice is plump and the milk coats the spoon. Add raisins for the final 10 minutes.
- Whisk 1 cup of hot pudding into the beaten egg, a little at a time. Pour it back into the pan.
- Stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Do not let it boil after the egg goes in.
- Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla, then dust with cinnamon. Serve warm or chilled.
Mabel's Secret
There is no cornstarch and no flour in this pot. The rice is the thickener. Gentle stirring rubs starch from the swelling grains, and that freed starch turns the milk creamy. The rice gives up its starch while it is cooking and moving, so stir early and often. Waiting until the end leaves the milk thin and risks scorching the bottom.
There is no cornstarch and no flour in this pot. The rice is the thickener. Gentle stirring rubs starch from the swelling grains, and that freed starch turns the milk creamy. The rice gives up its starch while it is cooking and moving, so stir early and often. Waiting until the end leaves the milk thin and risks scorching the bottom.
If It Doesn't Look Right
Rice pudding keeps tightening as it cools, so take it off the stove looser than you think you want it. If it becomes stiff, stir in warm milk a splash at a time. If you smell scorch, pour the pudding from the top into a clean pan without scraping the bottom. Most of it will be saved.
Rice pudding keeps tightening as it cools, so take it off the stove looser than you think you want it. If it becomes stiff, stir in warm milk a splash at a time. If you smell scorch, pour the pudding from the top into a clean pan without scraping the bottom. Most of it will be saved.
Ready for the other 57?
Mabel June's Never-Fail Dessert Library has 60 old-fashioned desserts, each with clear Why It Works and Fix It notes, plus pantry swaps, oven help, and printable kitchen cards.
Read it on your phone or print your favorites at home. One payment of $47.
SEE WHAT'S INSIDEMabel June is an AI-assisted fictional cooking character. This recipe pack is a free digital resource.