Mama Reed’s Southern Tea Cakes

By cnash

Ingredients

• 1 Cup butter or margarine
• 1 Cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 1/2 Cup self rising flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoon softened butter or margarine
• 1/2 Cup Confectioner's sugar
• 2 Tablespoons milk (can add another if needed)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Few drops food coloring

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from southernplate.com

Preparation

Step 1

Gift Mixes

These tea cakes are something I dearly love to bake. One of the main reasons (despite the flavor and texture and…well everything else that is wonderful about these!) is that I have issues with sugar and therefore can’t really eat most of the yummy desserts I make for Southern Plate. These tea cakes don’t bother me, though, as they are not loaded down with sugar and super sweet taste as most 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 plan on icing.

Mama Reed (Adle Reed was her given name) made these on a regular basis and the day she made them her kids (all ten of them) were allowed to eat as many as they wanted as they were coming warm out of the oven (can you imagine the thrill of that?). After they cooled the would be placed in a large glass jar with a screw on lid and the children had to come ask permission before they got one, so they wouldn’t ruin their supper.

Until it looks like this. Now add your eggs and mix well.

Dump in all of your flour and mix again.

Pour in vanilla and mix until its blended in well.

I pat mine out a bit before I roll it. I always try to be loving and delicate with these tea cakes. I don’t know if that’s because they require it or because of all of the wonderful stories I can’t help but think about as I roll them out and cut them. Whenever I make them, its as if there is a direct link between myself and those who have made them before me. I know I am sounding a bit on the looney side right now, but these tea cakes just represent a lot to me.

Its very important when you make old family recipes like this, that you tell your kids all of the stories behind them to your children. Even if its something simple like “Your grandaddy used to love these”, make sure they know. To young kids, this is a sort of “living history” that helps them to identify with their roots and ancestors. To be able to bite into the same kind of cookie or cake or pie that their great great grandfather used to beg for when he was a boy, now thats something that sticks in a child’s memory.

Cut out your cookies. I like to use a round cookie cutter with a bit of a frill but sometimes I make hearts. These cookies will be very tender and pillow when they are done baking so I wouldn’t use a cookie cutter that made a very narrow shape at any point, such as a swan’s neck or something.

I don’t suppose many of us make swan shaped cookies, though. Hmm..

However, when company was coming she would mix up a little quick cookie icing and ice the tops of them in pretty pastel colors. Well folks, I can’t think of any better company I’d like to have than all of you so I guess its time to mix us up some icing!

Place two tablespoons of well softened margarine or butter in a bowl, top with 1/2 C confectioner’s sugar.

Add two tablespoons of milk.

Stir that in well and add in a teaspoon of vanilla.

Add a few drops of your favorite coloring and stir that up to get rid of any lumps.

Now 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.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix again. Add vanilla and flour and mix well. Roll thin on floured board, cut with cookie or biscuit cutter. Bake at 350 for ten minutes. Sprinkle with sugar while warm or ice with simple icing.

2 Tablespoons milk (can add another if needed)

Cut butter into confectioner's sugar. Add milk and stir until lumps are gone. Add one teaspoon of vanilla and a few drops of food coloring, stir until combined. Spoon onto cookies or tea cakes and spread with back of spoon. Top with sprinkles while still wet, if desired. Let dry before stacking.

Now keep in mind, I am a veteran of Robotussin ~shudders~, which likely holds the record for most disgusting taste in the history of mankind. Think I’m kidding? Go buy a bottle and try it. Better yet, get some and wait until your spouse is dead asleep but coughing in the middle of the night. Now wake him/her up and say “Here honey, take this” and pour it down his or her mouth before they realize what hit them. THATS WHAT MY MOTHER USED TO DO TO US!!

This is my first post but I just HAD to tell you a story from MY childhood regarding cough medicine. Back in the earily 1960s when I was 5 or 6 I would get terrible coughing spells during the winter and sometimes so bad I’m sure my mother was scared to death (my dad was a farmer and worked 24/7 so he didn’t ever hear me cause he was a sleep!), well, for her cough syrup she would take a teaspoon of sugar and take a coal oil lamp which was a little cottage with Santa Claus coming down the chimney and pour a little oil on the sugar and in between spells she would poke it down me and take me out side in the cold and hold me in freezing weather until I could catch my breath. Now I KNOW Robitussin does not taste good but try sugar and coal oil one time and it won’t taste near as bad! Love your wonderful website.

I remember as a child my grandmother would make tea cakes every Saturday for all the grandchildren (and there were a passel of grandkids!). She kept them in a big wicker basket that had a wicker top on it. She’d have a clean dish towel in the basket with all those delicious cookies wrapped inside. The wicker basket was kept on top of her china cabinet. As a small child I remember standing at the china cabinet and looking up at the basket. It seemed so high up. After church all her children and grandchildren would meet at her house for dinner. Each family brought something to add to what she had. After dinner she’d get down the wicker basket and all the kids would line up for 1 or 2 tea cakes depending on the age of the child. What a precious memory she left for all her grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. I’ve tried to duplicate her recipe but they don’t taste quite a good as my grandmother. It must be the love she added to her recipe.

You are a great comfort to me and it makes me feel like you’re my daughter or granddaughter. Love your format, pictures and easy recipes. Keep ‘em coming, Gal. You’re the tops!!!

[...] night my nephew and I made Southern Plate’s Southern Tea Cakes recipe and I have to tell y’all it is an idiot proof recipe if I can make it. I have never been able [...]

My grandmother use to make these all the time for us as “a treat”. Seeing this recipe brought tears to my eyes! My grandparents raised me and I have been searching for this recipe for years. NOONE in our family had it. She would make these and put homemade choc frosting in between them … ahhh I cant wait to get home and make these for my kids and tell them stories of my grandmother making these when I was a kid.

I add about 1 tsp of white syrup to my icing..makes it taste great and they won’t stick together.

This is the greatest story. My grandmother and her daughter ( my father’s side ) would make these everytime we went for a visit. My mother also made tea cakes and she would let us help with them. We would always slip and get a pieace of the dough. Wonderful momeries. I also make them and share with my sister and brothers. It is so great that you share your recipes that your grandmothers made. Thank You

OH I am just thrilled and very happy to have accidentally stumbled upon your blog; I remember well how my grandmamaw baked such beautiful desserts like cookies, cakes, butter rolls (not the rolls many of us think of when seeing the word but an actual sweet and buttery dessert) she made for us grandchildren when we were so young. I wish I could find or actual make that butter roll dessert today but like so many wonderful cooks & bakers; even to this day she can only tell how to make it by adding a dab of this a little of that and not by actual measuring. I can still remember those beautiful tea cakes my grandmamaw baked for us and how they would just melt in my mouth. THANK U SO MUCH Christy for bringing back an old time favorite and now I can share and bake them with my 7 yr old niece. I really stumbled on something amazing by fonding your blog.

I used 1/2 real butter and 1/2 coconut oil for the cup of margarine or butter and I used 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 unbleached flour for the 3 1/2 cups of all purpose (just added 3 tsp of baking powders). My grandmother used to make these exactly like your recipe (my mom still does) and they are just as delicious that way too. Love your recipes, my mom said they are so many of her favorites on here that she has grown up eating.

Tea cakes are hard to make. That is all.

Check out my FAQ for instructions on using that to make self rising

Tea cakes were also kept in a glass gallon jar. Mom always added molasses to hers and shortening. This is also the same recipe used for her Christmas Apple Stack cakes. Never have been able to mimic them, but mine are pretty good

I made these tonight. All I can say is WOW, THESE ARE AMAZING!! Just like my grandma used to make. Thank you soooooo much!!

I am so glad that they turned out good for you Karla!!! Thank you so much for letting me know, it just makes my heart soar when I hear from y’all!!

[...] 137 Thanks Amy!! I am really hoping this means I am stabilizing…the tea cake will be the test, LOL! A tea cake is sort of like a sugar cookie with less sweetness and fluffier. My grandmother in Mississippi used to make them all the time. You can find them at alot of southern "hole in the wall" restaurants as well. Here is a recipe that I use for them. They are addictive to eat (I add cinnamon and extra vanilla extract to them):-) Mama Reed’s Southern Tea Cakes | Southern Plate [...]

Hi Christy, So glad I found your website. Do you by any chance have a recipe for the dessert Butter roll? My mom used to make this when I was a child. I was delighted to find your recipe for tea cakes. I never thought to get the recipes from my mom before she passed. I would be entirely grateful. Thanks again. Jerri

Christy, can these be made in advance and frozen? With or without the icing? I have family coming for Christmas, and would like to get as much done in advance as possible…..any other suggestions for make ahead recipes?