Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes

By Addie

“Grandma's cookie stamp imprinted a rabbit onto each tea cake.”

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Colored sugar crystals or granulated sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Combine granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar, vegetable oil, butter and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed until smooth and creamy.


Add vanilla extract and salt to creamed mixture and mix well.


Combine flour and baking soda in a large bowl and mix well. Add gradually to the creamed mixture, beating continually. Beat until well mixed. Chill dough, covered, for 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Shape dough into 1/2-inch balls. Arrange on baking sheets. Flatten with a cookie stamp or bottom of a small glass dipped in colored sugar crystals. Bake until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.
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Grandma's Secret Tip

This recipe makes about 100 cookies. If Grandma didn't plan to use all the tea cakes at once, she froze some of them packed in a rigid plastic box, with the layers of tea cakes separated by waxed paper. She sometimes froze a portion of the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to two months.