JOSH STANDIFER (Cleveland, Tennessee) remembers the holidays always being a huge deal with his grandmother, Mimi, HELON BARRON STANDIFER (Dothan, Alabama). And Christmas was the best! Mimi started cooking way before December 25 to ensure all her precious treats were made to perfection. “I will always remember the smell of walking into her house. The aroma of the wonderful things she was baking filled the air as if to warmly invite us into the ‘wonderland’ that was Mimi’s house and Christmas,” Josh adds.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out dough
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg
½ cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vegetable shortening for preparing cookie sheets
1 Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
2 In a separate bowl cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk and vanilla. Mix all together and cover. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
3 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets.
4 On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough thin, approximately ¼ inch thick. Cut with a small round cookie cutter and place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake until lightly brown, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on wire racks before serving. Enjoy your tea cakes with Mimi’s Hot Tea on page 4.
MAKES 1 ½ DOZEN COOKIES.
NOTE: You can try other cookie flavors by replacing the vanilla extract with lemon or almond extract.