Old-Fashioned Crispy Tea Cake Cookies

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This is a crispy version of old-fashioned Southern tea cake cookies. They still have the same lightly sweet taste that’ll have you dipping into the cookie jar for more.

Crispy Tea Cake Cookies

Where I’m from, an old-fashioned tea cake cookie is a simple flavored cookie. It’s not a Russian tea cake or a Mexican wedding cookie. It’s delicious on its own or with a cup of coffee, just lightly sweet with the texture of a sugar cookie, so that it can double as a snack or treat.

My mother’s grandmother, Mama Reed, was known for her soft old-fashioned tea cakes. She would serve them warm, straight out of the oven, to her 10 kids and whoever happened to be around when they were done. Then, after they had cooled she would store them in a big old cookie jar, where they didn’t last long.

Today, though, I’m sharing another variety of tea cake cookies that was also a standard of many Southern families These crispy little tea cakes are what my husband calls “evil little things that won’t let me stop eating them.” Whether you try the soft or crispy version, you’re guaranteed to love these old-fashioned tea cake cookies as much as my family.

Fortunately, they’re easy to make and take less than 15 minutes to bake. All you’re going to need are ingredients you probably already have at home, like butter, sugar, flour, eggs, salt, and vanilla extract. Will these be your family’s new favorite Christmas cookie recipe? My bet is yes!

Recipe Ingredients

  • Butter
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Vegetable oil
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Vanilla extract

How to Make Southern Tea Cake Cookies

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down sides as needed.

Drop the tea cookie dough by tablespoon-size balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a glass in sugar and press down lightly on each dough ball to flatten, dipping in sugar again after each one.

Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly brown on the edges. If you would like them to be softer, bake one to two minutes less. Cool completely.

Storage

  • Store your tea cake cookies in an airtight container at room temperature until they disappear (or 3 days).
  • You can also freeze either the unbaked cookie dough or the baked cookies for up to 3 months. You’ll just need to add a few minutes to the baking time for the unbaked cookies and just allow the baked cookies to thaw at room temperature before serving.

Recipe Notes

  • The more golden brown the edges, the crispier your cookies will be.
  • If you want to take this tea cake recipe to the next level, sandwich your favorite ice cream flavor between two cookies to make an epic homemade ice cream sandwich.

Here are more cookie recipes to bake:

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Birthday Cake Cookies

Pecan Snowball Cookie Recipe

Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

Dishpan Cookies

How to Make Snickerdoodle Cookies

Tea Cake Cookies

This is a crispy version of old-fashioned Southern tea cake cookies. They still have the same lightly sweet taste that'll have you dipping into the cookie jar for more.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes
Total Time: 29 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, cookies
Servings: 4 dozen

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (two sticks)
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until fully incorporated, scraping down sides as needed.
    1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Drop the cookie dough by tablespoon-size balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a glass in sugar and press down lightly on each dough ball to flatten, dipping in sugar again after each one.
  • Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly brown on the edges. If you would like them to be softer, bake one to two minutes less. Cool completely and then store in an airtight container until they disappear.
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

tea cake cookies

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” 
~Francis Chan

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84 Comments

  1. My grandmother made these and always those or flapjacks on a plate waiting in the refrigerator. I have tried many recipes to make her cookies but have never found those that taste like hers. I will try these because they sounds really good. I suspect she made hers with lard.

  2. I love tea cakes! Growing up we always had canned peaches in the cabinet. Mom would make these crisp tea cakes and serve them with the sliced peaches. It still the way I love them today!

  3. These cookies sound great! I can’t wait to make some. I’ve been wanting something like these. Thanks.

  4. I loved when my Mama made these, I could eat and eat them and never get full; Of course, with 6 brothers and sisters in my family, I didn’t have to worry about that, lol. Thank you for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it!

  5. Oh I am such a big fan of simple cookies – these sound fabulous and not too sweet. And I love the pictures of your friends with fur and feathers. Enjoy our lovely Southern spring – (in Atlanta here)

  6. My mawmaw made these very frequently and then my mama made them. They made them softer, but still thin. My aunt on my daddy’s side made them thicker but soft. I haven’t made them in a long, long time. Your post has spurred me to make them again! Whenever they’re baking, the smell takes me back 40 years!

      1. My mother used to make similar but she always rolled out the dough, cut into circles and bake them. They were soooooooooo good!

        I have tried several recipes but none like hers. I was anxious to try these, a flat cookie without rolling them. I hate rolling out dough

        So I followed your recipe exactly, scooped out 4 cups of flour sifted it, and followed the rest exactly. The dough was very crumbly and not in a “ball”. started to bake them, using my “ice cream ” scooped which is maybe 1/8″ smaller than a table spoon. When I baked them for 13 minutes they were just turning brown on the edges. After they cooled on a cooling rack they were hard as a rock! So I dropped the time to 12 Minutes, same thing. Will try 10 minutes on the rest. The stove is new and temp is right on at 350°, by using an oven gauge and an external digital gauge.

        NOW what did I do wrong? Should the dough be all crumbly? I got 5 dozen out of the batch so far but I am going to wait until I hear from you

        Regards
        ABC

        1. ABC, instead of scooping your flour out of the container with your measuring cup, lightly spoon it (in a swishy motion) over/into the cup; then you can level off and sift it. When you do a straight scoop, you are in all likelihood getting more than a cup of flour which resulted in your crumbly dough. I learned this the hard way when I use to be a scooper. It took me a while (years) to catch on to this.

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