Description
Southern tea cakes bring nostalgia from Grandma’s kitchen, blending simple ingredients into delicate, buttery cookies. Delightful memories of Southern hospitality shine through each tender, sweet bite you’ll savor.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups (300 milliliters/10.14 fl oz) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (240 milliliters/8 fl oz) softened butter
- 3 cups (720 milliliters/24.34 fl oz) plain flour
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp powdered nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper to ensure even baking and effortless removal.
- Creaming Mixture: Thoroughly cream butter and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, creating a smooth, aerated foundation for the tea cakes.
- Wet Ingredient Integration: Incorporate eggs and vanilla extract, whisking until the mixture achieves a uniform consistency and rich flavor profile.
- Dry Ingredient Combination: Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, eliminating any potential lumps and ensuring perfect ingredient distribution.
- Dough Formation: Gently fold dry ingredients into the wet mixture, creating a cohesive dough without overworking, which could compromise the tea cakes’ delicate texture.
- Chilling Process: Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 1-1.5 hours, allowing flavors to develop and butter to solidify, facilitating easier handling and shaping.
- Shaping and Baking: Portion chilled dough into uniform balls, spacing them on the prepared sheet. Flatten each ball slightly with your palm or a glass bottom to create consistent disk shapes.
- Final Baking: Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges turn a golden brown, signaling the perfect doneness of the Southern tea cakes.
- Cooling and Serving: Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack, letting the tea cakes cool and set for a few minutes before enjoying their delightful texture and flavor.
Notes
- Chill Dough Strategically: Refrigeration develops richer flavor profiles and prevents excessive spreading during baking, creating more structured tea cakes.
- Handle Dough Gently: Overmixing can result in tough, dense cookies, so fold ingredients softly and minimize aggressive stirring techniques.
- Measure Ingredients Precisely: Baking requires exact measurements, so use standard measuring cups and level off dry ingredients for consistent results.
- Control Baking Time Carefully: Watch edges closely during final minutes to achieve perfect golden-brown color without burning, as Southern tea cakes require delicate timing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Snacks, Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Southern American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 25
- Calories: 168
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 54 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 23 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 33 mg