My Favorite Tea Cake Cookies & Icing Recipe

Once a year I allow myself to indulge in one of my favorite desserts of all time: Tea Cake Cookies! And not just any tea cake cookies, but the softest, yummiest tea cake cookies I’ve ever had.

Here’s what you need…

Cookies:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening (you can see why I only eat them once a year!)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
A dash of salt (very very little)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups of flour
3 Tbsp. Buttermilk

Icing:

1/4 cup butter
4 cups of sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
At least 2 tsp. of light cream or evaporated milk
Food coloring

Here’s how to make them:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cream the butter, shortening and sugar in a large mixer.

3. Add the egg and mix some more.

4. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla and mix more.

5. Alternately add the flour and buttermilk.

6. Once the dough is mixed thoroughly, pack part of it together into a ball and put it on a floured surface.

7. Roll the dough out to about 3/16 of an inch (I would recommend making it thicker than you think it needs to be, or the cookies won’t be as soft) and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  (My kids did the shapes so the dough isn’t quite used to its optimal capacity in the picture) 

8. Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake for around 10 minutes. Depending on your oven they might need to bake a LITTLE bit longer… just make sure you don’t overcook them.

9. Put together the dough that is left from when you cut out the shapes and add more of the dough from the mixing bowl. Repeat steps 7 & 8.

10. Once the cookies are done, immediately transfer them to a cookie rack. When they are cool, transfer them to an air-tight container.

Are you ready for the icing?

1. Cut the butter into the sugar like corn meal with a pastry blender.

2. Add the sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the milk and food coloring.

4. Keep the icing in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the cookies. Then ice them and ENJOY!

My husband (who isn’t a fan of super sweet things) loves the cookies plain without the icing.  Me on the other hand… give me the full sugary sweetness!

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