Old-Fashioned Crispy Tea Cake Cookies
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This is a crispy version of old-fashioned Southern tea cake cookies. They still have the same lightly sweet taste that’ll have you dipping into the cookie jar for more.
Where I’m from, an old-fashioned tea cake cookie is a simple flavored cookie. It’s not a or a . It’s delicious on its own or with a cup of coffee, just lightly sweet with the texture of a sugar cookie, so that it can double as a snack or treat.
My mother’s grandmother, Mama Reed, was known for her soft old-fashioned tea cakes. She would serve them warm, straight out of the oven, to her 10 kids and whoever happened to be around when they were done. Then, after they had cooled she would store them in a big old cookie jar, where they didn’t last long.
Today, though, I’m sharing another variety of tea cake cookies that was also a standard of many Southern families These crispy little tea cakes are what my husband calls “evil little things that won’t let me stop eating them.” Whether you try the soft or crispy version, you’re guaranteed to love these old-fashioned tea cake cookies as much as my family.
Fortunately, they’re easy to make and take less than 15 minutes to bake. All you’re going to need are ingredients you probably already have at home, like butter, sugar, flour, eggs, salt, and vanilla extract. Will these be your family’s new favorite ? My bet is yes!
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vegetable oil
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Southern Tea Cake Cookies
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down sides as needed.
Drop the tea cookie dough by tablespoon-size balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a glass in sugar and press down lightly on each dough ball to flatten, dipping in sugar again after each one.
Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly brown on the edges. If you would like them to be softer, bake one to two minutes less. Cool completely.
Storage
- Store your tea cake cookies in an airtight container at room temperature until they disappear (or 3 days).
- You can also freeze either the unbaked cookie dough or the baked cookies for up to 3 months. You’ll just need to add a few minutes to the baking time for the unbaked cookies and just allow the baked cookies to thaw at room temperature before serving.
Recipe Notes
- The more golden brown the edges, the crispier your cookies will be.
- If you want to take this to the next level, sandwich your favorite ice cream flavor between two cookies to make an epic homemade ice cream sandwich.
Here are more cookie recipes to bake:
Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies
How to Make Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (two sticks)
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down sides as needed.1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Drop the cookie dough by tablespoon-size balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a glass in sugar and press down lightly on each dough ball to flatten, dipping in sugar again after each one.
- Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly brown on the edges. If you would like them to be softer, bake one to two minutes less. Cool completely and then store in an airtight container until they disappear.
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
~Francis Chan
Hank you, Christy, for a wonderful memory of my hubby.. I will make the soft ones for him.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I absolutely love your Stifflemire’s Melt In Your Mouth Sugar Cookies and so does everyone else that eats one…..or three…..or a dozen!!!!! I’m sure these will be as delicious!
Hi Christy.I had these tea cakes growing up,my mother used lard.You can’t eat just one.Thanks for the recipes,photo’s and the encouragement.
I have never made these but they sound good! I love simple cookies such as shortbread which are not too sweet. Thanks for another great recipe. I love reading your blog and getting new recipes. I also love your humor!
Our family Christmas cookie is a version of this–it’s my great-grandmother’s Tea Cake recipe (it includes cinnamon and nutmeg….). My mother would make a half a batch at a time–a half batch used 8 cups of flour, and roll them thin. Still my all-time favorite cookie!
I’m writing from Canada & our Spring will be here soon. I really enjoy reading your news, scripture quotes & I accumulate a lot of your recipes in a separate folder. I’ve tried a few & they are delicious. I will be trying the Tea Cakes as it reminds me of when we were growing up in India, we always had Tea with cookies around 4 pm and T biscuits were always consumed. Thank you Christy, for the Crispy T Cakes’ recipe. Will be trying them soon.
PS: I love dogs & the photo of Zoey & Pick reminded me of mine. I had never seen those beautiful Japanese Silkie Bantams!!
These cookies sound great… I will try them. I was just going to comment also on the cute picture of Zoey and Pick… so cute and you can tell they are content and that they are best friends. I love that! And oh my… your little Bantams are sure pretty.
When I was growing up in the ’40s my grandma had a few and there was a “banty” rooster, as she called him, that would chase you down! I guess he thought he was ruler of the yard LOL Actually I guess he was! At least that part of the yard… in another area they had some ducks and I remember a large white gander chasing my grandpa trying to bite his behind! LOL Grandpa was running and trying to swat the gander with his hat… all the while hollaring “dad gum, dad gum” I was about 3 or 4 and I didn’t think it was funny at the time… But I have laughed many times over the years about that picture in my memory.
Thanks Christy for making me laugh again about the “banty” rooster and the gander!!
I laughed out loud about your grandpa. Thanks for sharing that story.