Tea Cakes

Plain but delicious!

Tea cakes fall into the category of "heritage foods."  These slightly thick, not-too-sweet, cookies are definitely not showy and are not something you will see in the supermarket bakery.

My late mother, who was born in 1911, remembered tea cakes as a childhood staple in her West Texas home.  Using simple ingredients and tools, her mother and other cooks of her generation were masters at making tea cakes.  My grandmother's recipe was never committed to paper, and my mother tried lots of tea cake recipes in search of one that produced tea cakes like she remembered.  Finally, she was given the perfect recipe from a  Nancy Ray of Ackerly, Texas. 

Hand written card from my mother's recipe box.

TEA CAKES

1 cup lard (or shortening)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour milk (or buttermilk)

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla or nutmeg

6-1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease 4 or 5 baking sheets.

Using a mixer on low speed, cream sugar and lard.  Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix well. 

Yes, lard.  Crisco will do in a pinch.

Buttermilk makes everything better!

 

Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add about half the flour to the existing mixture and, using wooden spoon, blend in flour.  Add remaining flour, working in gradually.  The dough will be very stiff. 

 

Mix flour with a heavy spoon.

Finally, use your hands!

 

Working with about one fourth of the dough at a time, place dough on a floured surface; and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness.  Cut dough in circles using a cookie cutter whose edges have been dipped in flour. 

I like to use a plastic pastry mat.

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness.

Don't try to work with too much dough at one time.

 

Bake on greased cookie sheets approximately 16-18 minutes or until only slightly browned.  Yield:  6-1/2 dozen cookies, using a 2.5 inch cookie cutter.

Baking time varies, watch the first pan carefully.