In Scotland, “tea cake” means a few different things. It commonly refers to a chocolate-covered, marshmallow treat atop a crunchy biscuit layer, or a buttered fruit bread. In the American South, tea cakes are likely to be heavy, buttery cookies. Also called “old fashioned” tea cakes, this sweet treat can be flavored with almond extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla and lemon flavor in this recipe. These soft cookies are considered best a day or two after baking.
Recipe Servings: 6
Prep Time
15 minutes
+ 1 hour resting
+ 1 hour resting
Cook Time
10 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 25 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
Directions
- Mix the butter and shortening in a large bowl until creamy.
- Add sugar, mixing continuously, until well-combined.
- Mix in the egg followed by the lemon zest and vanilla bean paste. Set the mixture aside.
- Sift together the baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
- Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients alternating with additions of buttermilk .
- Knead the dough until soft, shape it into a circle, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- Knead the chilled dough to soften, and then roll it to ¼-inch thickness.
- Cut the dough into circles using a cookie cutter.
- Place the cookies on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. The cookies should be cold going in to the oven, so if necessary, chill again in the refrigerator.
- Bake for 8–10 minutes, until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly brown; the top will not brown. Do not overcook.
- Remove the cookies and cool them on a rack.
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