Posted: 12/14/2011
Author:
Ronnie Spradlin
My Granddad, who was born in 1903 was raised by an aunt who used to make these cookies for him. She was born in 1878 and got the recipe from her mom. It was passed down to my Grandmother Sis Spradlin who made them for us all of my life.
It was a family tradition for each grandchild to get the cookies wrapped up in tissue paper in ide a cardboard shirt box at Christmas. When in better health, Mamaw's big cookie jar was seldom without the Tea Cakes. We liked them a little crunchy so they went better with milk. It was a sacrilege to put icing on them or decorate them in any way, but they were different shapes and forms depending on the time of year.
Amanda Nobles (Kilgore Economic Development Corporation Executive Director) took up making them for me after my grandmother passed in 1994 and to this day I have a tear or two each holiday when I taste my first Tea Cake and think about Mamaw.
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1 cup oleo 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoons water 1 egg pinch salt (optional - Sis did not use it) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Enough flour to make very stiff batter (3 to 4 cups)
Preparation: Cream oleo and sugar; add vanilla. Beat egg and water; add to creamed mixture. In a separate bowl, mix 3 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon soda. Add dry ingredients in thirds to creamed mixture. It will be stiff. Have one cup of flour ready to flour cloth or board to roll cookie dough. Don't roll all at once. Roll thin. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven until brown, about 10 min.
Recipe given to Sis Spradlin ( Sonny's mom) by Aunt Lizzie Smart, Ronald E. (Shiplap) Spradlin's mother's sister, who was born in 1878.
For more Christmas sweets stories in the Kilgore News Herald, click
HERE.
