Southern Tea Cakes

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Tea Cakes are as southern as fried green tomatoes, church fans, and syrupy sweet iced tea. But they aren’t really cakes at all—more like an amalgamation of a fluffy biscuit and sugar cookie.

I remember mom pulling out the handwritten recipe card that she inherited from her mother, my Mamaw, and whipping up a batch of these budget-friendly after-school treat for my siblings and me. Though as a child, we paired these buttery, subtly sweet treats with fruity sugary drinks or soda, as adult I love them with a cup of lemony hot tea.

My Mamaw’s Tea Cakes were the very first cookies I learned to bake with my mom. I loved making and eating them as a child, and their simple yet rich taste brought back waves of childhood memories when I made them again for first the time in years with my mom and sister.

For my family, a true Southern Tea Cake is lightly golden brown, tender on the inside, and just-barely crisp on the bottom with slightly brown edges.

tips for making tea cakes

Every southern family has their own version of Tea Cakes, and this is ours. The full recipe is below, but here are some tips to ensure your Tea Cakes turn out perfectly each time.

Tea cakes will spread while baking, so make sure you space them out on your cookie sheet before baking.
It’s always best to bake cookies one sheet at a time in the center rack of your oven. If your oven is like mine, you probably have hot spots, or places in your oven that tend to make food cook faster than other. If so, rotate your baking sheets about two-thirds of the way through cooking.
Cool your cookies on wire rack. Don’t have one? Invest it one. They make a difference, trust me.
Tea Cakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container or frozen for up to two months.

useful tool for making tea cakes

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Yield: 16 cookies

Author: Sweet Tea & Fried Pies

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Southern Tea Cakes

Passed from my Mamaw to my mother, these were a budget-friendly after-school treat for my siblings and me. I loved them as a child, and their simple yet rich taste bought back waves of childhood memories when I made them again for first time with my mom and sister.

Prep time: 10 MCook time: 24 MTotal time: 34 M

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy; add egg to the creamed mixture.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add flour mixture to cream mixture to fully combined and then add vanilla extract.
Using a teaspoon, scoop out the dough and drop on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them evenly to allow for spreading.
Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges.
Cool the cookies on the sheets for 10 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Calories

106.29

Fat (grams)

6.13

Sat. Fat (grams)

3.69

Carbs (grams)

11.66

Fiber (grams)

0.21

Net carbs

11.45

Sugar (grams)

5.60

Protein (grams)

1.27

Sodium (milligrams)

38.09

Cholesterol (grams)

26.88

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