Tea Cakes

Even though they may sound like cakes, tea cakes are actually old-fashioned cookies made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla. With soft centers and crisp edges, they're the perfect sweet bite to pair with tea, coffee, or a glass of lemonade.

Depending on where you grew up, these may already be a part of your family history. The recipe varies from baker to baker and state to state—sometimes made with lard, or shortening, rolled and cut or dropped by the spoonful, and even flavored with a touch of nutmeg or lemon.

Learn how to make tea cakes. No matter how they're made, tea cakes are a simple, no-fuss cookie that will disappear from the kitchen all too quickly.

The History of Tea Cakes

Tea cakes date back over 250 years in American history. They were often made by enslaved people in the South in an effort to recreate European tea cakes for white plantation owners and their guests.

They were also famously served at one of the earliest women's political events in the United States in 1774 by a group of women protesting the British tax on imported tea.

As freed people left the South during the Great Migration, the tradition of making tea cakes was carried with them.

Ingredients for Tea Cakes

Essential baking ingredients are all you will use for this recipe. To make tea cakes, you'll need:

• Softened butter: If using salted butter, eliminate the additional salt called for in this recipe.
• Granulated sugar: Lightly sweetens the cookies and helps create a crisp edge.
• Eggs: Binds the dough and adds lift for soft, fluffy centers.
• Vanilla extract: To flavor the cookies. Can also be substituted with other flavorings, including almond extract, lemon zest, or spices.
• All-purpose flour: The base of the cookie.
• Baking soda: Helps the tea cakes spread.
• Salt: Enhances the flavor of the cookies.
  

How To Make Tea Cakes

Full instructions are below, but here's a brief recap before you get started:

• Step 1. Cream butter and sugar: Beat butter until creamy. Beat in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended. Add vanilla.
• Step 2. Add flour: Combine dry ingredients; gradually beat into butter mixture.
• Step 3. Chill dough: Divide dough in half; wrap each portion in plastic wrap, and chill.
• Step 4. Cut out cookies: Roll half of dough out. Cut cookies with a round cutter. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Step 5. Bake tea cakes: Bake until edges begin to brown. Cool completely on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

Flavor Variations for Tea Cakes

Tea cakes are an everyday cookie, for any season. If you want to mix these up throughout the year, there are lots of ways to customize the flavor.

• Play with spice: Add cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice.
• Experiment with extracts: Almond extract, coconut extract, lemon extract, and more.
• Add zest: Lemon or orange zest would work nicely here.

How To Store Tea Cakes

Store tea cakes in an airtight container for up to five days; freeze for longer storage (up to three months).

Editorial contributions by Katie Rosenhouse.