TEA CAKES – The Southern Lady Cooks

These Old Fashioned Tea Cakes are a classic from long ago. Some people may call them shortbread cookies, but either way they are delicious.

Tea Cakes

If you love old-fashioned recipes, you will also love Kentucky Bourbon Balls. I have seen many recipes for these, but this one is authentic to a real bourbon ball.

❤️WHY WE LOVE THIS RECIPE

If you have followed our website for any amount of time, then you know we love old-fashioned recipes, and we love sharing our Grandmother’s recipes. This was one of her favorites. She was from Mississippi, and she loved to entertain her friends. She was very much a Southern Lady and loved to make these for afternoon tea. She would always serve them on cute little plates.

🍴KEY INGREDIENTS

  • Pecans or walnuts
  • Butter, 
  • Brown sugar
  • Vanilla
  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt

SWAPS

There really aren’t many swaps on this recipe unless you want to switch out the vanilla for almond, coconut, maple, etc. That is really about the only change that could be made, other than leaving the nuts out altogether.

🍽️HOW TO MAKE

The most time-consuming part of this recipe is letting the dough get cold. You don’t want the fat source, the butter to heat up while you are working with the dough, so it must be chilled.

COOKING STEPS

Step 1
Mix all ingredients with mixer until very crumbly. Take your hands and shape into a ball and put in refrigerator until solid enough to pinch off a piece and flatten on a hard surface.

Step 2
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

Step 3
Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees about 25 minutes. Just before removing from oven, turn on the broiler for about 45 seconds and let brown on top.

⭐TIP

If your dough get too soft while cutting out the cookies, just return to refrigerator for a while or between cooking.

SERVE THIS WITH

These delicious cookies are great for Christmas and go great with this Old Fashioned Snowball Cake. It’s a classic for a reason!

❓FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Are these cookies hard or soft?

They are not either.. honestly they have kind of a hard surface but they melt in your mouth. The butter keeps them soft.

These tea cakes have no eggs, is that correct?

Yes, this is a very old recipe and this is the way we have always made them.

Tea Cakes

STORING

These cookies will keep for several months in an air-tight container. We make them at the beginning of December and enjoy them through the holidays.

Five Minute Fudge

This fudge is an excellent recipe for the holidays! Makes a great gift too!

SERVING SIZE

This recipe makes 3-4 dozen depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Tea Cakes

Anne Walkup

Tea Cakes melt in your mouth. I’ve never come across anyone who doesn’t like them. These buttery treats are sometimes called shortbread cookies, but eithe way they are delicious.

Cook Time 25 minutes

Course Cookies

Cuisine American

  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 2 sticks butter softened
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Mix all ingredients with mixer until very crumbly. Take your hands and shape into a ball and put in refrigerator until solid enough to pinch off a piece and flatten on a hard surface. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

  • Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees about 25 minutes. Just before removing from oven turn on broiler for about 45 seconds and let brown on top.

If your dough get too soft while cutting out the cookies, just return to refrigerator for a while or between cookings.

Let us know by commenting below!

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