What are Grandma Mary’s tea cakes and why should you make them? This recipe is in celebration of the beautiful memoir We Are Bridges by Cassandra Lane (affiliate link). You can watch the full episode below. Her great-grandmother Mary used to make Southern tea cakes (also called Mississippi tea cakes) and they play a prominent role in her book. She shares her beautiful recollection of waking up as a child to a house filled with the smell of nutmeg and allspice, and the joy of knowing that meant Grandma Mary was making her tea cakes. Lighter than shortbread, softer and flakier than sugar cookies, with hints of spice.
While the original recipe is lost to time, I took Cassandra’s family’s notes and did my best to recreate it using this recipe as a starting point, and checking my two African-American cookbook references. They’re not as fluffy or biscuit-like as Grandma Mary’s, but they’re not the flat sugar cookies that are sometimes sold as tea cakes.
Lane’s memoir is a hybrid of two stories: her own as she wrestles with romance, race, and motherhood, and her great-grandmother’s, whose love is cut short by a horrific lynching. As a white reader I found We Are Bridges a powerful experience, making lynching personal, showing the impact it had on generations of a family. I hope you’ll buy it and read it.
If you’re not gluten-free, use regular self-rising flour instead of the gluten-free flour listed in this recipe.
Watch the full episode here:
Grandma Mary's tea cakes
Ingredients
- 4 ounces butter (unsalted) Grandma Mary would have used salted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (organic) PLUS 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 eggs
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free) Bob's Red Mill 1 for 1 gluten-free flour (or regular self-rising flour if you're not GF)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt or regular table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (dried)
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices; stir into the creamed mixture 1/3 at a time.
- Knead dough for a few minutes on a floured board until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut with a floured glass, mug, or 2-1/4" round cutter. Place tea cakes 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Refrigerate one hour (this keeps them from spreading too much.)
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Bake for 16 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven. They should be golden on top and brown on the bottom.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely and place in a big jar.
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