The Best Old Fashioned Tea Cakes Recipe

With some basic ingredients that you have in your pantry, you can make a batch of Old Fashioned Tea Cakes. I bet you can’t eat just one – they are downright addictive!

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes are a favorite cookie in the Deep South.  Mention “Tea Cakes” to people from other locations and you are sure to get different thoughts on the subject.  Some people may think about Russian Tea Cakes while others may think about green tea cakes.

What is a tea cake?

According to my favorite internet source (aka Wikipedia): An English tea cake is a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered.  In the U.S. tea cakes can be cookies or small cakes. And in Sweden, it is a sweetened wheat soda bread served with butter, jam, and often cheese. In India and Australia, a teacake is more like a sponge cake.

Russian tea cakes are similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies and are soft, melt-in-your mouth cookies that are covered in powdered sugar.  They are very different from southern tea cakes.

Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes

My mother-in-law grew up in rural Alabama on a farm and the recipe I have comes from her. I like to believe that it is an authentic, old-fashioned recipe. Nowadays, it might even be considered a vintage recipe. My husband thinks this is the best tea cake recipe. It’s one of his favorite cookies!

There several great things about simple southern recipes like this one. For one thing with this simple reicpe, you don’t have to cream butter or use a stand mixer. Another is that by using self-rising flour, you don’t have to use baking powder or baking soda and worry about the flour mixture/ratio be spot on. With this recipe, you also don’t have to worry about ingredients being at room temperature.

How To Make Tea Cakes

This Southern tea cakes recipe is made with simple ingredients. My mother-in-law’s recipe calls for the following:

• self-rising flour
• sugar
• salt
• eggs
• vegetable oil
• milk
• lemon and vanilla extract

I prefer to use the King Arthur brand of self-rising flour because it is not bleached and they don’t use aluminum in their rising agent.  It’s the only brand that I am aware of that has those two features.

To make tea cakes, assemble all of your ingredients.  Place the self-rising flour (see the recipe for quantity), sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Create a well.

Add the remaining ingredients to the flour mixture and mix with a spoon until all of the flour has become moistened.  If you love lemons, you could add a little bit of lemon zest to boost the lemon flavor.

Pour dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead.  You may need to add additional flour.  Once the dough is no longer sticky, roll out and cut into cookie shapes using a cookie cutter or a cup.

Place dough on cookie sheets and bake in a preheated oven.  Keep an eye on them closely because at 450 degrees, they cook quickly and can burn quickly, too.

Once they are golden brown, remove from the oven.  Allow them to stay on the baking sheet/stone for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

These old-fashioned tea cakes with self-rising flour are sure to become a favorite in your home, just as they are in mine.

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Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

These Old Fashioned Tea Cakes are simply irresistible. 

Course Desserts

Cuisine American

Keyword Tea cakes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 18

Calories 253kcal

Author Lynda

Ingredients

• 4-5 cups self-rising flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
• 1 tsp lemon flavoring

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Place flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Make a well in the center and add remaining ingredients. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. The dough will be stiff.
• Place on lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out and cut using a cup.
• Place on baking stone and bake for 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Cool and enjoy.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 253kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 4g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 42mg | Sugar: 22g

Just one bite of one of these simple sugar cookies and your family might think that granny, grandma, maw maw, or whatever-you-call-your grandmother came for a visit and left you all with a batch of her prized cookies.

Tips For Making Old Fashioned Southern Tea Cakes:

• If you use a baking stone, they will probably take a little bit longer to cook.  I also recommend that you use parchment paper for easy removal.
• If you use a metal sheet pan, keep a close eye on your first batch so that you get a feel for how they will bake in your oven.  They will bake faster on metal than on a baking stone.  Also, you might want to rotate the baking sheet for more even browning.
• The thinner the cookie, the crunchier it will become as it cools.
• Store any leftover tea cakes in an airtight container such as a Ziploc bag or cookie jar.

Love cookies and desserts?  Here are some more delicious recipes you will want to sink your teeth into:

• Nutella S’mores Cookies – These cute cookies combine the flavors of s’mores into a cute little cookie.
• No-Bake Peppermint Cookies – Like Thin Mint Girl Scouts cookies?  Then you will not only love these chocolatey minty cookies, but you will also love how easy they are to make.
• Sweet and Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies – These cookies are great for those who like a little extra spice in their life.
• Homemade Banana Pudding – Bananas, creamy pudding, and sweet vanilla wafers come together in this popular Southern dessert.
• Classic Southern Poundcake – This decadent pound cake is a taste of pure Southern delight, especially when you top it with strawberries.