Tea Cakes

I can always remember my Grandmother having tea cakes in a flour sack.  Sarah Miranda's Grandchildren loved eating her tea cakes.  In the days before families bought prepackaged baked goods, mothers cooked tea cakes by the dozens.  The cookies were often kept in flour sacks or pillowcases to keep them fresh.  Teacakes resemble a sugar cookie and are made from basic ingredients of sugar, flour, milk and eggs.  Every woman had her own special recipe, often passed down from her mother or another close relative.

Tea Cakes

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 cups of flour
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat over to 350

Mix butter and sugar, cream well, and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. 

Add flour and buttermilk alternately to egg and butter mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Drop by tablespoon full on ungreased cookie sheet, and sprinkle top with granulated sugar.

 Bake eight to ten minutes. 

(If you make the tea cakes thick, you will have more of a cake-like teacake.  If you make them thin, the results will be more crispy)