Tea Cakes

My husband's grandmother gave me this recipe as soon as she found out I enjoyed baking. I've made a few tweaks to the original recipe and now it's my job to make these for every family gathering.

Supplies:

• baking sheets
• mixer (hand or stand)
• mixing bowls
• measuring cups

Ingredients:

• eggs - 2
• sugar - 3 cups
• sour cream** - 1 cup
• butter - 1/2 pound (2 sticks)
• vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
• almond extract - 1 teaspoon
• flour - 6 cups (sifted)
• baking soda - 1 teaspoon
• baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Before you get started, several ingredients need to be at room temperature. Take out the eggs, butter, and sour cream and let them get to room temperature.

As you can see in the picture, I'm not using sour cream. Any sour cream substitute works fine. I've used Greek yogurt and dairy-free almond yogurt, both with the same result.

The flour needs to be sifted before it is measured. Using a sifter (shown) or a fine mesh strainer, sift 5 -6 cups of flour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a rack on the second to top level.

Beat together the eggs (2) and sugar (3 cups).

Add in the sour cream (1 cup), butter (2 sticks), and vanilla and almond extract (1 tsp).

It's ok to have chunks of butter in the mix, but all other ingredients should be well mixed.

In a separate bowl, measure 6 level cups of sifted flour. Mix the baking soda and baking powder (1 tsp each) with the flour.

Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients 2 cups at a time. Wait to add more flour until the previous addition is completely mixed in. This will get thick very quickly. If using a hand mixer, you may want to switch to mixing by hand, with a sturdy spoon, partway through the second addition. A stand mixer can typically handle the mixing the whole way through.

Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, place the dough on a greased cookie sheet. Once all the balls are placed, flour your hands and slightly flatten the balls.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I typically bake mine for 12 minutes, but my husband likes the bottoms not very dark. Straight from the oven, the tea cakes will look not very set, but you should start to see browning on the bottom.

Once done, let sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Once the tea cakes are cool enough for you to handle, they're cool enough to eat!

This recipe makes 5-6 dozen tea cakes. If you need less, the recipe is easily halved.

The dough also freezes easily. After you form the dough balls and flatten them, place the baking sheet in the freezer, then transfer to a container once the dough is completely frozen. Take them out later and bake from frozen at 350 degrees, but add 5 minutes to the baking time.