I have the recipe in front of me and it says cut with a biscuit cutter.

Maybe the biscuit cutters back then then were.

I remember cutting biscuit with the mouth of a jelly jar.

You know in this day and age EVERYTHING IS BIGGER

Glad you like them

He was known for his tea cakes. Ask country bumpkin :o)

check out this link, and see how they used to cut their tea cakes. I remember that as well.

this is a great site.

Here is a link that might be useful: grandmothers teacakes

I remember his tea cakes being kind of thin and about the size of a tea CUP.

I remember my great-aunt making them (probably using Ol' Tom's recipe since they were neighbors) and sometimes she used lemon flavoring! Those were MY favorite!

bump, go look at the link I posted. shows them cutting the cakes with a canning lid.

Here's his recipe and it uses lemon flavoring

Brother Tom's tea cakes
1 egg
1 c sugar
1 stick margarine
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon flavoring
2 1/2 c plain flour

cream together the egg, sugar and margarine. add the soda, vanilla, and lemon flavoring, stir in the flour

roll out on a floured board and cut with a biscuit cutter

place on ungreased baking sheet

bake 325 for 10 minutes until lightly browned

makes about 5 dozen

***I copied it exactly from the l983 edition of the church recipe book

THE COINCIDENCE TO THIS IS THAT: BRO TOM and his wife were friends of my parents, and I grew up with their children. We all went to the same church.

come to find out country bumpkin knew them as well, cause they were from her side of town :o) SMALL WORLD

This is a cool thread! I thought tea cakes were those little tiny muffins. SO... I just tried the modified version:

This is the adapted recipe:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1 heaping cup of sugar
1 well-beaten egg
1 tablespoon cream

They made 13. I use a modified campbells soup can as a cutter.

They taste to me like under done sugar cookies. Is that how they taste to ya all? How do your taste buds percieve them?

It was a new experience to try them....I used lemon juice instead of cream....IF I baked them longer they might taste like a Lorna Doon shortbread cookie, minus the lemon juice.

nicole, no vanilla or lemon flavoring????

Nicole:
Speaking of the consistency (or doneness) of the teacakes.

My grandmother baked them in a wood fired oven which I suppose varied in temperature. Sometimes they were soft and sometimes more crisp like shortbread. I preferred the soft ones, and Bro Tom's have had just the right softness for me.

So Glenda........Do you use margarine or butter? I never have margarine,only real butter.

I always bake with Land of Lakes

My grandmother used homemade butter. She was leery of that "old oleo" as she called it.

glenda.....I did use the TBL of lemon juice....it was a nice flavor!!!! Liked that!

soxxxx.....they just have a "flour" taste to them. Like they're missing something......?

I used margarine, since I was experimenting.....maybe butter would taste "richer"?

I like recipes with only a few common, not modern-day....ingredients. This is my kind of THING!!!! :0)

I REALLY enjoyed trying something new....