Tea Cakes Recipe With Icing
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Follow this beloved Southern tea cakes recipe and in no time you’ll be enjoying pillowy soft and slightly sweet tea cakes with delicious frosting.
If you’ve never had a Southern tea cake, rest assured we sometimes call them cookies but they’re nothing like a cookie (nor are they similar to a ). This tender little cake is soft and pillowy, with just a touch of buttery vanilla sweetness. A very simple and comforting flavor. You can eat them with or without the icing. They are equally satisfying. If you are looking for the crispy variety, click here for my old-fashioned crispy Southern tea cake cookie recipe.
Tea cakes by Mama Reed are something I dearly love to bake. One of the main reasons (despite the flavor and texture) is that I like a lower-sugar snack. These tea cakes are perfect because they are not loaded down with sugar and super-sweet taste as most sugar cookies are. They are the perfect treat with an afternoon cup of coffee or as a snack. If you are expecting something really sweet, you’ll want to add the icing.
Mama Reed (Adle Reed was her given name) made these on a regular basis and the day she made them all 10 of her kids were allowed to eat as many as they wanted as they were coming warm out of the oven. With a shortbread-like texture, it’s easy to see why these tea cakes are total crowd-pleasers. I love to make them around the holidays as they’re the perfect Christmas cookie.
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Self-rising flour
How to Make My Southern Tea Cakes Recipe
Begin by placing the room temperature butter in a large bowl with the sugar.
Beat this with an electric mixer or until well creamed together and fluffy.
Now add eggs and beat again until well incorporated.
Dump in all of your flour and the vanilla extract. Mix again.
A nice dough will soon form from this .
Turn your dough out onto a floured surface.
I like to line my countertop with paper and flour so all I have to do is fold up the paper and there is no mess left behind.
Roll out the tea cake dough to about 1/4-inch thickness or so. You can make them a little thicker if you like.
Cut out your cookies.
Spray your baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Bake them at 350 until done, about 10 minutes or so.
Here are the finished tea cakes.
As soon as you take them out of the oven you can sprinkle a little colored sugar on them if you like, but do it while they are warm so it will stick.
Otherwise, follow along as we add icing to our tea cakes.
Tea Cakes Icing Recipe
Recipe Ingredients
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Vanilla
- Butter
- Milk
- Food coloring bottle
Place softened margarine or butter in a bowl and top with confectioner’s sugar.
Cut in your butter with a fork and then add the milk and vanilla. Stir that until smooth and creamy.
Add in food coloring if you like.
If it becomes too runny, just add another tablespoon or two of confectioner’s sugar.
First, make sure your cookies are completely cool before you add icing.
Then, spoon the icing on the center of your tea cake (this icing is also excellent on sugar cookies). Spread it around with your spoon and top with colorful sprinkles.
See how pretty these are? I feel like it’s my birthday or something (it’s not).
They are equally pretty with white uncolored icing as well.
Note: This icing is going to be very wet when you first make it and ice your cookies, but it will dry after an hour or so.
Just leave your cookies spread out to dry and once it does you can stack them in a cookie jar or on a plate.
Storage
- Store your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 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 simply thaw the baked cookies at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
- This tea cakes recipe can be used for any holiday or occasion. I like to use a round cookie cutter with a bit of a frill when there isn’t a holiday coming up and I have a craving for tea cakes. But you can use heart cutouts for Valentine’s Day, trees for Christmas, or stars for the 4th of July. The possibilities are endless for these little beauties.
- While these are a great treat with a cup of coffee for morning or , they also taste great served with fresh berries and/or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Feel free to make this Southern tea cake recipe your own. Add some lemon zest to enhance the flavors. Or how about a 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg? Another idea is a teaspoon of almond extract, lemon extract, or rum extract.
You may also like these other cookie and cakes recipes:
Heart-Shaped Cookies With Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing (optional)
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- few drops food coloring, optional
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix again. Then add the vanilla and flour and mix well.1 cup softened butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Roll your cookie dough out thinly on a floured surface and cut with a cookie or biscuit cutter. Place on a cookie sheet greased with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with colored sugar while warm or ice with the vanilla icing.
To make the simple vanilla icing
- Cut the butter into the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until smooth and creamy. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and stir until blended.2 tablespoons butter at room temperature, 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, few drops food coloring, optional
- Spoon a small amount of icing into the center of each cookie and spread with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle rainbow sprinkles over the top while still wet and allow to dry for about an hour before stacking the cookies.
Nutrition
Yum
Hey Christy, I just made Mama Reed’s Tea Cakes this past week and they went like hotcakes, er, Teacakes! My kids loved them and packed them in their lunches. We had some neighbor kids come over after school because they forgot their housekey and let’s just say, after they left, the cookie jar was a bit lighter, haha! Never tried tea cakes before now, but I will definitely make them again. Thanks for another great recipe.
On Sundays when my family would visit with my Grandma and Aunt Estelle there were always tea cakes in the warming cabinet of her wood burning stove. Oh, what a treat!! When my Mother would make them for my brothers and sister, she would always save about 1/2 of the dough because it was just as good as the cookies. She would keep it in the refrigerator and we would sneak by for a pinch!
I share stories with my Grandson as we cook, because I want him to know his heritage. My Father and his Paternal Grandmother were both in Heaven when he was born and I love how he speaks of them like he knew them personally.
I just stumbled upon your recipe tonight, while searching for uses for self-rising flour. So excited to try this. You also gave me some terrific wisdom about sharing stories while baking 😉 Many thanks.
Merry Christmas!
I sprinkled my first pan with colored sugar. When the cookies were cool and I picked up a cookie, most of the sugar fell off. I sprinkled the next pan with the colored sugar before baking, with much better results. I also tried the frosting. Mine was kind of thin, and I thickened it some with more sugar. My sugar lumpy, so the icing was not very attractive. As far as taste, I preferred the ones with sprinkles. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Hi Christy 🙂
Humm, I made your butter roll and was completely blown away. I didn’t know anyone else knew about that particular dessert. Well…now you have tea cakes too??? :-). I agree that its not like a cookie..but the way MY mom made them I would say it is more similar to a biscuit only slightly crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Lots of nutmegy flavor and not at all sugary sweet. So good on a cold fall day. I will try your recipe and get back to you.:-). I LOVE fall!
I am so glad you liked the butter rolls!! I love fall too, it is my favorite time of year!
“If you don’t have self rising flour, a substitution is listed at the bottom”
I couldn’t find this, did I overlook it?
Anyway, I found a useable sub for it on the trusty internet, so I went ahead and made these. What I was looking for originally was a recipe for these big,soft, NOT rolled vanilla sugar cookies that my grandmother used to bring whenever she visited. I thought maybe tea cakes were the answer. Not the same, but good nevertheless.
I got a little tired of rolling and cutting so for the 2nd half I just scooped little mounds with a small cookie scoop. Both the rolled and the scooped/mounded results were good. I felt they needed the icing so I made some. Actually I think most things taste better with icing!
The scooped tea cakes did turn out more cake like, which is what I wanted.
Good basic recipe.