Old Fashioned Tea Cakes- Southern-Style
“Classic, tender old-fashioned tea cakes made with simple ingredients”
Watch me make these old fashioned tea cakes from start to finish!
I love finding people who have never experienced a good old-fashioned, Southern tea cake so that I can de-flower them. Ok, that sounds kinda weird but you know what I’m talking about. You’ll never guess where I found my first Southern tea cake virgin? In my own home!! MY HUSBAND!!!!
What the heck is going on! This is the second time this month I’ve discovered a true Southern staple that he’d never had. Remember when he told me he’d never had fried green tomatoes? And now the man up and tells me he’s never had a southern tea cake!!!!! I’m really starting to feel some kind of way about him being a true Southerner. I think it’s time to hit up ancestory.com and do some research on who this person is I married!
It’s been a long time since I’ve made old fashioned tea cakes so I was really excited to make him some, plus I’ve been getting so many emails about them. Have you ever had a true southern tea cake? I’m talking about a real, deep south, old-fashioned, church potluck, make you wanna hum an old spiritual type tea cake? They became really popular for Juneteenth many years back but now they are making comeback!
It’s so crazy how people have such different takes on such a simple recipe! I’m not sure where these things originated from. They are so basic as with most vintage recipes. Some folks say they should be crunchy, some say soft, some say lightly sweetened, some say sweet like cake! Sheesh! This is one of those controversial southern recipes (but aren’t all Southern recipes that way lol!) Gotta love the South!
Let me give you the “tea” on them? Get it? Tea…and we’re making tea cakes! Gosh, I’m clever!
Anyway, tea cakes are as old-fashioned and southern as church funeral home fans and….and…well just think of something else that reminds you of the South. They aren’t cakes at all or cookies. Kinda like a threesome love child of a cake, cookie, and biscuit. Makes sense? Well, it will once you sink your teeth into these melt-in-your-mouth plain Janes.
What Does An Old Fashioned Tea Cakes Taste Like?
For me, there is ONLY ONE WAY a true Southern tea cake needs to be and that’s soft, fluffy and tender on the inside, with a lightly golden bottom that is barely crisp and edges that are slightly chewy. YESSSS GAWD! And the taste? It needs to have some flavaaaaa but not too much!!! I seriously can’t deal with a tea cake tasting like a dry biscuit. It makes me sad, anxious and I have a hard time trusting the morals of the person that made it.
It needs to have the faint trace of nutmeg, lightly speckled with vanilla bean and hints of lemon zest to play up all the flavors. But hey…that’s just my opinion.
Some people say tea cakes remind them of sugar cookies but I think they remind me more of sweet cornbread or pound cake in cookie-biscuit form. They pretty much BEG for tea or coffee.
It seems every Southern family has their own take on the authentic way to make tea cakes and this recipe is how we make it! And let me tell you, IT’S THE BOMB DIGGS!!!
But the real question is: To add nutmeg or not to add nutmeg??
Some people say keep this recipe as simple as possible which means none of that nutmeg, cinnamon or any additional madness. I say YES YES YES to nutmeg….and lemon zest….and vanilla bean!!!!! JUST YES!!! DO IT!! You’ll thank me! It really bumps up the flavor of these tea cakes without losing that authentic taste and texture making them downright addictive!
I’ve tried so many bakery versions of Southern tea cakes that use a “secret family recipe” and honestly…these tastes exactly if not better than those. So if you’ve been having a hard time trying to find the tea cakes like the kind you’ve tasted in Southern bakeries then give this recipe a try.
Tips On Making The Best Old Fashioned Tea Cakes
- Don’t add extra flour. If your dough is too sticky to handle then roll it in between parchment paper. I’ve never had to add any extra flour to this recipe. Adding extra flour for rolling can result in a drier, cracked tea cake and we want a smooth, pretty, tender, fluffy, picture-perfect tea cakes!
- Chill the dough. Cold dough is what you want! Chilling the dough will keep the tea cakes from spreading too much in the oven and getting all weird shaped.
- Use both butter and shortening. True you can use all butter but there is just something that shortening or lard adds to the texture of these tea cake that all butter just can’t. Point, blank and the period!
- Add stuff! Don’t be afraid to flirt with different extracts and add-ins. For me, nutmeg and vanilla is a must!! The lemon zest just bumps up all those flavors so it’s a must as well. Sometimes I’ll add in a drop of almond extract or a bit of rum extract.
Love simple Old-Fashioned Recipes? Check out this Old Fashioned Buttermilk Pie
Get the Recipe: Deep South Old Fashioned Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- lemon zest, 1 small lemon
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- In a large bowl cream together butter and shortening until creamy.
- Mix in sugar until well combined.
- Mix in egg.
- Mix in lemon zest and vanilla bean paste. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk.
- Turn dough onto a smooth surface and knead until dough is soft.
- Shape into a disk and cover with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour (or freeze for 30 minutes)
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove dough from fridge and plastic wrap.
- Knead dough to soften it.
- Roll dough to 1/4-inch thick.( I rolled the dough on parchment to prevent sticking)
- Use a round cookie cutter to cut out circle shapes.
- Place cookies on prepared pan about 2 inches apart. (see note)
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until bottoms are lightly golden. (see note)
- Remove from pan and place on cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Once cooled store in airtight container.
Video
Notes
2. Do not over bake the cookies! They will not get golden on the tops and will continue to cook as they cool.
Adapted from these tea cakes
I plan to make this recipe, but instead of rolling out dough, I plan to do cylinders and cut the dough that way. I just think it will prevent dough scraps. I’ll let you know because I’m really wondering about the nutmeg, but I am going to try it your way.
Also questioning no baking soda while using buttermilk?
The recipe calls for baking powder not baking soda. Big difference.
Due to spreading and chilling. Baking soda causes dough to spread. Chilling dough made with only soda as a leavener reduces its ability to provide lift. Baking powder allows the cookies to rise even if the dough has been chilled.
My great grandmother was from LA (Lower Alabama) and I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully to recreate her famous tea cakes. She had 11 children and not one child nor grandchild knew the recipe. Keeping my fingers cross that this is close. I know she wouldn’t had butter flavored shortening, and the butter and the eggs would have been no more than 2 days old. Crossing my fingers and hoping for a non-sticky dough.
I grew up in TN and an older neighbor made tea cakes for the neighborhood kids. I have her recipe and it calls for lard and buttermilk. I just made a batch and had wonderful memories flood back.
My great grandmother made these, she called them “Tea Cakes”, she had 19 children and non of them, even my grandmother, didnt get the recipe or save the recipe, but she would make a homemade fudge that she would spread between 2 cookies, and I am 58 years old and she has been gone since I was 11, but I can still taste them, my mother loved them and she tried for many years to try and figure out the recipe and try out on my dad and they never were the taste we all were looking for, and believe me we have looked and tried and failed and I be darn if this is not that taste I can still taste to this day, I jumped for joy, cant wait to send to my mom and let her try it out, I know my daddy will be just as happy as I was, so thank you very much for sharing…..its been a wonderful childhood memory to go back to after all these years.
Thank u for sharing
Just found your blog while I was on the hunt for an Oatmeal Cream Pie recipe…
This recipe almost brought tears to my eyes! I was raised by my great-Grandmother in TN. Having been born in 1880 and raised in the DEEP country (we’re talkin’ back-in-the-hollers kind of deep!), she was a simple woman, a true scratch cook, and this was basically her tea cake recipe. She didn’t add lemon zest, but she did add a bit of nutmeg and, of course, vanilla.
She’ll have been gone for 50 years this spring and I’ve always been proud to have been raised by such a woman.
I think I’ll bake up a batch tea cakes tonight using your recipe in her honor.
can you prepare the dough ahead of time and refrigerate overnight?