Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
>
> Recipe books were written for relatively wealthy people who would
> have had ovens in their houses. Most of the population of Scotland
> didn't, as late as 1829, and I doubt if any higher a proportion of
> Southern American colonists did.
>
> If your "tea cakes" (the word can mean several different things here)
> could be made on a griddle, then they could well have come from the
> poorer or more rural parts of Scotland. If they needed an oven then
> they would presumably have been confined to slaveholders (who could
> well have bought cookbooks like Mrs Dalgairns's) and spread more
> widely as ovens became more widely available.
Tea Cakes are soft sugar cookies (biscuits in England). They are rolled
and cut large, usually about 3 inches. I don't know if they could have
been cooked on griddles or not. Everyone made these when I was a child.
No distinction by social, economic, country of origin of ancestors,
color, or religion. But when I found a recipe for them in a Scottish
cookbook, I began to wonder if they originated in Scotland. Maybe their
popularity came much later and it is only a coincidence that there is a
similar recipe in a Scottish cookbook. I don't find any recipes in The
Virginia House-Wife, 1824, The Kentucky Housewife, 1839. The Carolina
Housewife, 1847, has an entire chapter labeled, "Tea Cakes, etc." but
none of the recipes really looks familiar. Even the "Scotch Cake" is
probably shortbread.
Sources on the web say that Mrs. Dalgairns book was initially published
in 1829. The 1840 edition is on the web at:
http://www.scotfood.org/cookery/index.htm
Online edition at this website:
THE PRACTICE OF COOKERY
Adapted to the
BUSINESS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE.
By MRS. DALGAIRNS.
1840
In Chap. 15,
THE QUEEN’S TEA CAKES.
Mix together half a pound of dried and sifted flour, the same quantity
of pounded and sifted loaf sugar, the weight of two eggs in fresh
butter, the grated peel of a lemon, and a little salt; beat the two eggs
with a little rose water, and with them make the ingredients into a
paste; roll it out, cut it into round cakes, and bake them upon floured
tins.
In the historical cookbooks at:
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/
Housekeeping in Old Virginia
By Marion Fontaine Cabell Tyree
Richmond, VA: J.W. Randolph & English, 1878.
TEA CAKES.
2 quarts of flour.
1 small teacup of lard.
1 small teacup of butter.
3 cupfuls of sugar.
3 eggs.
1 cupful of cream (sour is best).
2 small teaspoonfuls of soda.
1 grated nutmeg.
Roll out half an inch thick, and bake in a moderate oven.--Mrs. F. C. W.
TEA CAKES.
2 quarts of flour.
3 cupfuls of sugar.
1 cup of butter.
5 eggs.
1 teaspoonful of soda dissolved in 2 tablespoonfuls of sweet milk.
2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar.
Season with lemon or nutmeg.
--Mrs. H.
DELICATE TEA CAKES.
Whites of 3 eggs beaten to a froth.
1 cupful of pulverized sugar.
1/2 cupful of sweet milk.
1 teaspoonful cream of tartar.
1/2 teaspoonful of soda.
2 1/2 cupfuls of flour.
1 teaspoonful of almonds.
1/2 cupful of melted butter.
--Mrs. R.
Even
La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes, From Leading Chefs
and Noted Creole Housewives, Who Have Made New Orleans Famous for its
Cuisine.
By Lafcadio Hearn
New Orleans: F.F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd., c1885
has a recipe for tea cakes
TEA CAKES. CHEAP AND NICE. NO EGGS
One cup of butter or a large spoonful of lard, two cups of sugar, one
cup of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda, some grated orange peel or
nutmeg; flour enough to roll out. Roll very thin; cut with fancy
cutters, and bake in a quick oven. If you use lard, add a pinch of salt.
PLAIN TEA CAKES
Half a cup of butter, or a large spoonful of lard, one and a half cups
of sugar, one teacupful of milk, one teaspoonful of soda, seven cupfuls
of sifted flour. Roll thin.
My grandmother's recipe for tea cakes
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lard
1/4 cup sour milk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon flavoring
Roll thin, cut with large cutter, sprinkle with sugar before baking