Mama’s teacakes…
When I was growing up, there was only one car which my Dad took to work. This meant, of course, I walked to school. Granted, we didn’t live on a farm after my toddler years and it wasn’t a five mile walk through blizzards etc., but there were some cold, rainy, snowy days on my .31 tenths of a mile to and from school.
One of my sweetest memories is coming home from school to find my Mama there and the wonderful smell of something baking. Sometimes, there were sweet potatoes baking in the oven as part of our supper or Mama’s special meatloaf that I’ve never been able to quite duplicate. Often there were cupcakes…warm and ready to be iced. My favorite, however, were Mama’s vanilla teacakes…a bit like a sugar cookie but fatter and softer like a cake. Often they were iced with Mama’s special chocolate icing.
One day this past week, we were watching an old episode of The Waltons (I know they’re “corny” but I still love them). Grandma Walton had made her special sugar cookies or teacakes. Right that moment, I wanted one of Mama’s teacakes more than anything in the world. After the show, I searched through Mama’s cookbook which I had compiled until I found it…the recipe for her teacakes. I baked them on a Pampered Chef baking stone instead of Mama’s old cookie sheet which is long gone. I also “dropped” them on the cookie sheet instead of rolling them out. I dipped a slightly moistened juice glass in sugar then “flattened” each one out. Next time, I won’t flatten them so they’ll be fatter and softer, but they were still delicious.
Just one bite of that teacake, and I was a teenager coming home from school again to find warm teacakes in the oven…
Mama’s Tea Cakes
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 & 1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten well
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 & 1/2 cups flour
Cream the butter. Add sugar gradually. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Roll out mixture to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut with round cutter and bake on a greased baking sheet at about 375-400 degrees. Delicious iced, especially with chocolate, or sprinkle with sugar.
Enjoy….
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Oh, boy, those sound good! At Sunday evening’s service, we had missionaries on furlough visiting, and we had a fellowship afterwards. Abigail wanted me to make chocolate chip cookies. Since she’s now enrolled in 4-H, I wanted to teach her more about baking techniques, so she did a lot of the measuring and adding of ingredients. Even broke her first egg (successfully, too). The cookies turned out perfectly. Now, today is another baking day. It’s her tenth birthday, so I need to get busy and make her cake. According to Abigail, this is a special birthday because now she is in DOUBLE DIGITS!
By the way, “The Waltons” are not corny, in my opinion. Warm, sentimental, dramatic, moving, heartfelt — but not corny! I have the first five seasons on DVD and am making a fan out of Abigail. “The Waltons” represent TV as it SHOULD be. People who think this show is corny watch too much of the trash that passes for entertainment these days. (Is my age showing??) Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now!
Thank you, Janet! I’m glad to know you love The Waltons too. I wish television were more like this now…maybe that’s why I never turn it on anymore.
Be sure to tell Abigail happy birthday for me. I miss all those Sunday night fellowships we used to have in T.H.!