Old Fashion Tea Cakes Food

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.

CHAMOMILE TEA CAKE WITH STRAWBERRY ICING

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon chamomile to a large mixing bowl. Pour the hot melted butter over the chamomile and stir. Set aside to steep and cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Use the same saucepan (without washing it out) to bring the milk to a simmer over medium-high heat, keeping watch so it doesn't boil over. Remove from the heat, and stir the remaining 1 tablespoon chamomile into the hot milk. Set aside to steep and cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper so the long sides of the pan have a couple of inches of overhang to make lifting the finished cake out easier.
• Add the sugar and salt to the bowl with the butter, and whisk until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, vigorously whisking to combine after each addition. Zest the lemon into the bowl; add the baking powder and vanilla, and whisk until incorporated. Add the flour and stream in the milk mixture while whisking continuously until no streaks of flour remain.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are OK, but you should see no wet batter), 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes.
• While the cake cools, make the icing: Into a medium bowl, squeeze 2 tablespoons juice from the zested lemon, then add the confectioners' sugar. Place the dehydrated strawberries in a fine-mesh sieve set over the bowl and, using your fingers, crush the brittle berries and press the red-pink powder through the sieve and into the sugar. (The more you do this, the redder your icing will be.) Whisk until smooth.
• If needed, run a knife along the edges of the cake to release it from the pan. Holding the 2 sides of overhanging parchment, lift the cake out and place it on a plate, cake stand or cutting board. Discard the parchment. Pour the icing over the cake, using a spoon to push the icing to the edges of the cake to encourage the icing to drip down the sides dramatically. Cool the cake completely and let the icing set.

OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES II

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Stir in eggs, and beat well. Sift together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and place onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, cookies should brown slightly.

OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease baking sheet.
• Cream butter and sugar together; add orange rind, juice and egg.
• Beat thoroughly.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together; add to mixture and mix thoroughly.
• Place on a floured board and roll thinly.
• Cut with a large round, scalloped cookie cutter.
• Place on prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.

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.