Favorite Old Fashion Tea Cakes Recipe
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Soft, lightly sweet, and full of nostalgia, old-fashioned tea cakes are a classic Southern treat. Perfect with coffee or tea, these simple cookies bring back homemade comfort in every bite.
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 anyone, 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 cookies.
Favorite Old Fashion Tea Cakes recipe
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. This recipe always makes me think of those fun times.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have over the years. Additionally, 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?
Favorite Old Fashion Tea Cakes
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Ingredients
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon whole milk
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or lemon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
- Cook time will depend on how large and thick you cut the cookies. For crisp cookies, roll as thinly as you can. Transfer the cut cookies to the cookie sheet using a thin spatula. These cookies won't get golden brown. They'll be ready with the edges turn slightly brown and they do not appear shiny but more of a matte finish in the center of the cookie.
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
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
I like lemon too, cakes, cookies, pies anything lemon. I don’t have many lemon recipes on here though. I should work on that!
The cookies sound wonderful, made even more special associated with such sweet memories. I am so grateful for the people who take time to be with little kids and pass on their knowledge. Moms are important but so are the other people in a child’s life! And I’ll be looking for the details on that cat story! 🙂
“Tea cakes” means something quite different where I grew up, but these look delicious 🙂
Not only do I love these cookies – but the story of your Mawmaw melts my heart ….. I have several recipes that bring back such fond memories ♥ Shared on FB 🙂
Thanks so much for your swet words, Jamie. I think I cried every time I worked on that post. Thank you for sharing!
Cookies look great! Thanks for sharing! You should come link up with me today! thediaryofarealhousewife .blog
What a beautiful post! I love my grandmother and am very fortunate to still have her with me. Thank you for sharing your memories and these tasty cookies! I have to check out the peppermint cookies, too.
Thank you!