A 'real recipe' for Southern tea cakes
Occasionally I get feedback on my recipes. One such feedback I received on had a very negative reaction that caught me by surprise.
A Southerner took exception to my interpretation of what a Southern Tea Cake was like, claiming I had 鈥渒illed these鈥� (not in the Millennial slang sense) and that my picture was 鈥渘othing like a large, soft cookie which is what our Tea Cake is suppose [sic] to be. Why would you tell people to roll it in a ball and freeze it and lump it up like this? Just make up your own recipe and name it something else rather than using a long named, part of a long well loved recipe and try making it into something it is not.鈥�
The reader admitted to being a 鈥渉ater of people missing [sic] around with my Southern Traditions鈥� and went on to agree with my admittance of not being from the South and never having heard of Southern Tea Cakes with an emphatic 鈥淥BVIOUSLY.鈥�
I will admit to being taken aback at the vehemence greeted by a cookie post, a recipe that I had found on Pinterest and made according to the original blogger鈥檚 post and naming convention (as opposed to creating it on my own and subverting the name). I will further admit my initial reaction would not have done credit to my West Coast upbringing, my Filipino-American heritage, or my 海角大神 religion. Fortunately, one or all three factors prevailed and stifled the knee-jerk impulse to respond to dislike with further dislike. That accomplishes nothing but to breed more ill will and wouldn't honor my values.
My second, more pragmatic reaction was to think what a shame this person missed a teaching opportunity to educate me and others on what a real Southern Tea Cake is, obviously something important enough to her to write in and give her opinion. I am teachable and when I make an error, I not only want to find out about it but I also would like to know how to do it correctly so that the error doesn鈥檛 continue and won鈥檛 be further propagated by me or anyone else.
Fortunately, someone else posted a comment directly on my blog, also informing me my version of the Southern Tea Cake wasn鈥檛 what she, Dianne V, grew up with but she didn鈥檛 stop there and instead helpfully supplied her Grandmother鈥檚 recipe, which she said was very old and welcomed me to try it.
In addition, a personal friend, Melvina, who鈥檚 also from the South, passed along her mother鈥檚 recipe to me after I related the story. I decided to try Dianne鈥檚 recipe first and that鈥檚 what you see pictured here. I did halve it since I didn鈥檛 need so many cookies. Turns out I portioned it a bit generously since my half recipe only yielded just over a dozen cookies whereas the full recipe was supposed to make 3-4 dozen.
I wasn鈥檛 sure how much a 鈥渟mall bag鈥� of self-rising flour (as written in the recipe) was since self-rising flour isn鈥檛 as common in my area as it is in the South. Melvina told me it was typically 2 pounds. I researched online and translated a pound of all-purpose flour is equal to 3-1/3 cups. My digital scale confirmed that, using the dip-and-sweep method of measuring flour. You can make your own self-rising flour by adding baking powder and salt. 1 cup of all-purpose flour + 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt = 1 cup self-rising flour. Or so say multiple sources on Google, which is what I used since I don鈥檛 normally buy self-rising flour and they didn鈥檛 have small bags of it at the store.
Using those adjustments, I made the recipe. The dough was beautifully easy to work with and I patted it into thick discs, bypassing the directions to roll it into a ball and flatten 鈥� same results. I wasn鈥檛 sure how long to bake it for since the bottoms of the cookie turning golden brown signal they鈥檙e done but it鈥檚 hard to check the bottom of a baking cookie. The proxy is to watch the edges and take them out as soon as they show a little color. The tops will also 鈥渄ry鈥� and show some cracks. It鈥檚 easy to overbake these so watch carefully. Baking time also depends on the size and thickness you make the cookies. I didn鈥檛 refrigerate or freeze them but they had enough flour in them that they didn鈥檛 really spread which was nice.
I ate half of the taste test cookie while it was still lukewarm and it was delicious. I loved the texture. Normally I don鈥檛 like cakey cookies but I鈥檒l make the exception for a good vanilla butter cookie that鈥檚 thick and chubby. I ate the second half of the taste test cookie when it was completely cool and it was still good. The butter and vanilla flavors really come out. So it鈥檚 important to use fresh butter and real vanilla extract. Don鈥檛 settle for imitation anything or margarine.
I love old recipes that have withstood the test of time so thank you, Dianne, for sharing your grandmother鈥檚 recipe and educating me on what a real Southern Tea Cake from a Southerner is like.
A real recipe for Southern Tea Cakes
By Dianne V
Should Make 3 鈥� 4 dozen Tea Cakes, depending on size
2 eggs
4 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
1 small bag (2 lbs) self-rising flour (see blog post for substitutions)
2 tablespoons vanilla
1. All ingredients should be room temperature. No substitute on butter. Use butter.
2. Preheat Oven To 350 degrees F. Use ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Using hand mixer beat butter and sugar together, add eggs, beat well. Add vanilla, beat well.
4. Add flour a little at a time until hand mixer begins to struggle (You can mix the whole batch by hand if you want to. My Grandmother never had a mixer so she mixed by hand). Continue to add flour a little at a time mixing by hand. Dough should not stick to hands or feel 鈥榩acky鈥� (SOFT BUT FIRM). Depending on weather, may not need WHOLE bag of flour or may need a little more than a bag.聽
5. Pinch off dough in golf ball size pieces, roll in hands and flatten. Put on cookie sheet, pieces not touching. Bake until sides of bottoms begin to color. Bottoms will be nice brown, tops will be pale.
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