I know I’ll cry before finishing this Favorite Old Fashion Tea Cakes recipe for you. It has such sweet memories for me of my great-grandmother.
As a little bitty girl, I remember standing on a chair in my Mawmaw’s kitchen helping her make Favorite Old Fashion Tea Cakes Recipe. She was one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever known; God-fearing, patient, always encouraging, never had an unkind word to say about any one, always had a warm hug for her great-granddaughter.
Because she lived in the age where ladies didn’t work, she was always home and took care of my brother and me before we were old enough to go to school. She played I Spy for hours sitting in her living room. We played baseball with balls she made out of yarn or fabric scraps. She made glue out of flour and water! I didn’t know you could make glue; I thought it was something you only bought in the white bottle with the orange top!
Other than the time we buried the cat alive, we always had a great time with Mawmaw. (We got into a little trouble for the cat incident. It is the only time I can remember her being upset or raising her voice!)
But my favorite by far was making these Old Fashion Tea Cakes with her.
They are thin and crisp and the perfect buttery bite. She was so patient with me mixing and measuring and teaching me how to do it just so. She insisted on sifting the flour three times. I never make the Tea Cakes that I don’t think of her.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years. I hope you go make memories baking them with someone you love. Those memories will last a lifetime. I know.
Do you have a special recipe that you made with someone when you were younger?
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg or lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups all purpose flour My Mawmaw was very specific about the flour being sifted 3 times!
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add milk, nutmeg or lemon, and vanilla. In another bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt together and combine with other wet ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bakein oven at 325 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Reggie says
Do these come out like the thicker/softer ones or the thin/firm ones?
Paula says
thin and crisp
WinnieReed says
My mom made these and cut them in 3” cookies, and sandwiched them with fudge,for our school lunches. They worked great for bartering. LOL
Emma Moore says
Going to try your recipe it sounds so good. My mother would make tea cakes and they were wonderful. My grandmother (my father’s mother ) would make these if she new we were coming to see her. Miss my mother and grandmother so much.
Paula says
My Great grandmother made them for us too. But she lived next door, I love tea cakes just because of her.
Linda says
I can’t wait to try your way of making your Mawmaw’s tea cakes. My Grandmother always made tea cakes if she knew someone was comming. I know it was a simple recipe and that she cut them out with the rim of a glass. They were the best, odd shaped and a little brown around the edges. My Mother and I have tried and tried to figure out how she made them but we never quite get it right. Maybe you have the secret!
Jo Green says
please clarify ’cause it does make a difference . . . do you measure the 4 cups of flour before or after you sift 3x??
Paula says
Yes, it makes a huge difference. Always measure the flour AFTER you sift it. What I do is scoop a lot more than I thnk I need, sift it, then measure. Also, use a spoon to spoon the flour into your measuring utensil then level with a knife.
Lynne says
Paula: My Mema was family-renowned for her fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits, but my favorite was the fresh-from-the-oven crisp she called her “Tea cakes.” I suspect half my delight was eating a cookie from the OVEN rather than a box, but she was always amazed at my level of joy. She’d say, “Why, they’re just my old tea cakes.” They were brown and crisp on the edges, light and just-sweet. Hers were not uniformly shaped, however, so I’m wondering if they were rolled or dropped rather than cut with a cookie cutter. Any ideas?
P.S. She read her Bible, baked the morning biscuits, prepared grits, scrambled eggs, cereal, and coffee, cleaned the house, and then went to her shift at the cotton mill. The gentlest, kindest soul I ever met.
Joan says
I am going to give this one a try. I have been trying recipes for many years, trying to find my Grandma Phelp’s recipe. She always mixed it up in the kitchen and would bring the bowl of dough and her canister of flour to the dining room table to roll out and let us cut them out with a glass. I don’t ever remember seeing her mix the ingredients. I just remember the LEMON, yes, I was yelling. Actually, the lemon “screamed”, guess that is why I love lemon (anything).
tfs
Paula says
I like lemon too, cakes, cookies, pies anything lemon. I don’t have many lemon recipes on here though. I should work on that!