Mama's Tea Cakes

This recipe for Mama's Tea Cakes fits the bill as a simple homemade cookie! It's an old-fashioned tea cake made with Steen's Syrup for a sweet molasses-like taste. The original instructions say to mix the dough with your bare hands. A little messy, yes, but worth the extra cleanup.

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A friend recently asked if I had a recipe for Tea Cakes, and I told her, "No, but I know who does!"

These Tea Cakes are large, flat, dense cookies. These "Mama's Tea Cakes" were introduced to me by my mother-in-law, Clarice Hartshorn. She often gets asked to make more by those who taste them.

Mom found the recipe for these traditional southern molasses (or syrup) flavored pastries from a cookbook published in 1978. It was by the Women of First Assembly of God in Minden, LA. So this recipe comes from Louisiana by way of my Mississippi mother-in-law.

Here's a picture of her find taken from that cookbook.

As you can see, the amount of flour is not listed in the ingredients but rather it says to mix in a large bowl of sifted flour (by hand).

Hand Mixing

When I asked Mom what this meant, she said that's how they used to mix their cookie dough. I thought about her mother and how I used to watch Mamaw make biscuits in a wooden bowl full of self-rising flour.

Mamaw would take the bowl out of the cabinet, remove the dish towel covering it, and make a well in the center with the back of her hand. Then she'd add shortening and buttermilk (without measuring) into the well and work them into the flour until the dough was the consistency she desired. Those biscuits were a work of art as she'd pat them into rounds and lay them onto an iron skillet before popping them into a hot oven.

After covering the bowl of flour and returning it to the cabinet, she'd then retrieve the skillet from the oven and turn the cooked biscuits onto a plate to serve with butter and her homemade cane syrup. It was always an intimidating process that kept me from even attempting to make homemade biscuits until later in my married life.

Well, I finally learned how to master making biscuits, and I share the recipe here in Foolproof Biscuit Making 101. You should give them a try. So easy and less mess since I use a spoon to mix!

I regret not letting Mamaw teach me her way. I can still hear her giggle when I'd decline her offer. So don't be like me and shrink back from making these "Mama's Tea Cakes" the way this recipe instructs.

Let's get our hands dirty and work with the dough until it's stiff enough to roll into a ball.

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📖 Recipe

My mother-in-law rolls them into a 1 to 1-½ inch ball in her hands before flattening them to bake. They do expand a little after baking.

When I asked her what kind of syrup she uses, I was so happy to hear her say Steen's Syrup. You know that made my Louisiana heart smile!

"That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well."

Abraham Lincoln