Grandma’s Tea Cakes with Pecans and Raisins

Both of my Grandmas made Tea Cakes, dating back to the 1915’s.  Mom’s mother had a pecan orchard and plenty of nuts, so she included them, along with raisins, in her Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes. Dad’s mom made them without any add-ins.  I have happy memories of eating them at both Grandmas’ houses.  This recipe is for the fancy Tea Cakes.   Most recipes call for rolling the dough and cutting the Tea Cakes out, but both of my Grandmas just pinched off some dough and used their fingers to flatten the Tea Cakes, so that’s the method I am recommending

¼ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

¼ cup butter-flavored Crisco

1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup buttermilk

½ cup chopped and toasted pecans

½ cup golden raisins

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and shortening until creamy.  Add the sugar and beat on medium low speed until creamed.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk the ingredients to combine.  Add about half of the flour mix to the butter mixture and beat until combined.  Pour in the buttermilk and mix to combine, then add the remaining flour.  The dough will be soft and sticky. Finally, add the nuts and raisins and mix to combine thoroughly.  Using a spatula, scrape together the dough into a ball. 

Turn the dough out onto a piece of Saran Wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.  Remove from the refrigerator and using a medium ice cream scoop, portion out 9 scoops of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Flour your hands and form the scoops into balls.  Using your fingers, press the balls down to about ¼ inch.  Make sure you leave about 1 ½ inches between raw cookies, as they spread out. Bake at 350° for 10-11 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned.  Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Remove to a rack and finish cooling the cookies.  Store in an airtight container.

Recipe by Mary