Barbaras Tea Cakes Cookies Food

TEA CAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add the vanilla, beating until blended.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended.
• Divide the dough in half; wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll half of the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets and switching their positions halfway through baking time. Let cookies stand on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar.
• Add egg.
• Sift flour and baking powder together.
• Add to first mixture.
• Add vanilla.
• Roll on floured board to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutter. (I use powdered sugar to roll out the cookies, it makes life a bit more fun for my kids). If the dough gets a little hard to work with (on the 2nd or 3rd rolling of "scraps"), form a ball and place it (wrapped) into the refrigerator for 10 minutes to let the dough firm back up.
• Decorate with colored sugar and sprinkles if you want to do so before baking.
• Bake 7 - 10 minute in oven, preheated to 350 degrees.
• Allow the cookies to cool slightly before removing to a cooling rack with a flat metal spatula (pancake turner). Cool completely before decorating with icing.
• I've tripled this recipe without any issue. If you scale up, keep most of the dough in the refrigerator and work a reasonable quantity at a time.

GRANDMA'S OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture. Knead dough for a few turnns on a floured board until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

GRANDMOTHER'S OLD-TIME TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Mix shortening and sugar together with pastry blender or two forks.
• Combine eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into shortening/sugar mixture.
• Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.
• Sift dry ingredients in with wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Dough should be the correct consistancy to roll, so you may need to add or decrease the dry ingredients as necessary.
• Place dough on lightly floured board or pastry cloth and roll out to approximately 1/4 inch thick.
• Cut cookies with round cookie cutter (my grandmother used a 2-inch biscuit cutter) and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until just beginning to brown. Don't overcook!
• Store in a covered tin or plastic container.

NEE NEE'S OLD TIMEY TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add eggs and mix well.
• Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
• Drop by spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets, or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes until lightly brown.
• You can also "roll" this mixture out and use cookie cutters to make shapes.

BARBARA'S TEA CAKES (COOKIES)

Steps:

• Cream together sugar & shortening until fluffy.
• Add eggs & vanilla. Mix well.
• Sift dry ingredients together.
• Add alternately to mixing bowl with the milk.
• Beat until well mixed.
• Dump onto lightly floured surface & knead until dough is smooth.
• Place in sealed bag or covered bowl. Chill several hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Roll dough on floured surface taking care to not add too much flour. The thinner the cookie the crispier it will be. I prefer them softer so leave my dough about 1/4-1/3 inch thick.
• Cut as desired. Place on ungreased cookie sheets with room to expand. Rolling the scraps together take care to not overwork the dough. The additional flour makes the cookies tougher.
• Bake approx 10 minutes or until done & lightly brown. They should still be very white.
• Cool a few minutes & then remove to cookie racks to finish cooling before decorating.
• Glazing; Sift the powdered sugar to remove all lumps. Stir in the vanilla & the milk a tablespoon at a time. Whisk together until the desired consistency is reached. To use as a glaze I make it about the thickness of pancake batter. It is NOT spreadable like a frosting. Color as wanted to provide the background color.
• Lay the cookies as close as possible on wax paper. Spoon the glaze over the cookies sparingly. Use the spoon to smooth the glaze to the edges of the cookies. Let dry.
• If more decorating is planned the glaze does support both buttercream & royal icings.