The Quest for Tea Cake Cookies: Doing Some Research

When I became obsessed with this idea of figuring out the recipe that my Grandmother would have used to make her Tea Cake Cookies, I do what many of us do - I turned first to google and the internet.

All this time, I had never heard of anyone else talk about "tea cake cookies" so I had assumed this was something my Grandmother had made up, or that even if she hadn't made up the recipe, this is just what she called them. I didn't think, therefore, that searching for tea cake cookies would get me anywhere except to recipes for Madeleines, which isn't what I'm looking for (although I do love Madeleines, and will post later about how they fit into this quest). I started out searching for phrases like "yellow cake like cookies." Those results weren't very helpful, as there appear to be a lot of recipes out there for cookies that use yellow cake mix from the box as an ingredient and these recipes were all I found with this search.

After trying out different variations of similar phrases, I finally decided to just search for tea cake cookie recipes, and for "southern tea cakes," since obviously whatever my Grandmother was making would have been something that was most likely traditionally southern. (note: the thought did cross my mind that maybe this was a recipe she got from the Wisconsin relatives, but usually when she was making something that came from "the north" she made a point of saying so, so I doubted it).

That is what lead me to a whole world of information about Southern Tea Cakes and their history. eHow.com's description of these cookies is as follows:

A Southern tea cake--which looks like a large yellow cookie--is light and fluffy, not too sweet and generally not iced.

Read more: Definition of a Tea Cake | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7159252_definition-tea-cake.html#ixzz1Kqgl9Nzs

There were so many websites with information! Who knew there was such a rich and diverse historical background to these little delightful cookies?! I devoured the information like the cookies themselves - if I can't ask Grandmother why she started making these things, I can still find out about their history in general!

The blog for the Itawamba County Mississippi's Historical Society includes a great post on tea cakes, which points out (as I suspected) that even if you grew up eating these cookies in your mom's or grandmother's kitchen, most likely you won't find anything about them in the recipe box, because the recipe was an southern "culinary tradition handed down orally." Tea cakes are among the many different food items currently being reviewed and collected as part of the "Southern Baking Traditions Oral History Project" as part of the Center for Public History at West Georgia College. Hm, either my Grandmother forgot to "hand it down" to my generation, or we just weren't paying attention when she did! Either is clearly possible!

The most interesting website I came across is called The Tea Cake Project. I was completely captivated by the very first lines on the page:

Remember back to your childhood, when you went over to your grandmother or aunt’s house and she served warm, delicious tea cakes? It was like a lovely, warm bite of hope, optimism, and the promise of a better tomorrow—all in one cute little tea cake.

Why yes! I do remember that warm, delicious bite of the cute little tea cake! That's exactly what I am looking for! I read on and on, and signed up for information about how to order the Tea Cake Project's Cookbook (I'm sure I'll be trying out lots of those recipes to determine which is the closest match to what I remember).

According to the Tea Cake Project's "Background on Tea Cakes" (in which they refer to "Southern food historians" - wouldn't that be a great job?), these soft little cookies originally derived from an English recipe in the 18th century, and the recipe was passed by word-of-mouth for generations. Southerners apparently made the cookies their own with additional ingredients, and mostly had them for special occasions (instead of daily for afternoon tea). The wealth of information on the Tea Cake Project's website is devoted mostly to the African American heritage associated with these cookies, calling it "the national cookie of African Americans." As
they point out, "tea cakes are soul food, and as we know, soul food is rich and wonderful tasting."

Many other bloggers and food writers have had lots to say about southern tea cakes, and what is striking is the theme of evoking strong childhood memories from these delicious little cookies.

On the "Never Enough Thyme" blog, Lana, another blogger from a small town in Georgia, says in the prelude to her recipe for tea cakes the following:

It’s not a cake, but it’s not quite a cookie either. It is certainly not overly sweet – just barely enough sugar to call it a dessert, actually. They’re delicious with a cup of coffee or a glass of cold milk. And, if you grew up in southwest Georgia, you can take one bite of a teacake and in your mind you’re five years old again.

Hmmm, I think it's time to get back into the kitchen! I'm feeling the need for a warm, delicious little bite of hope and optimism right about now!