The following recipe is excerpted from From Tea Cakes to Tamales: Third-Generation Texas Recipes (2016) by Nola McKey, with permission from Texas A&M University Press:
Big Mama Addie Odom's Tea Cakes
You'll need an extra-large bowl or clean dishpan, as well as a large work surface and plenty of extra flour, to mix this batch of cookies.
2 cups buttermilk
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2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pineapple extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups sugar
1 (2-pound) bag of flour plus extra flour for rolling out dough
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 stick (½ cup) butter, softened
1 stick (½ cup) shortening
Pour buttermilk in a bowl and stir in baking soda. Add beaten eggs and flavorings; mix well. Add sugar and mix well. Set aside.
Combine the 2-pound bag of flour and baking powder in an extra-large bowl; mix well. Add softened butter and shortening to flour mixture and cut in with a pastry cutter until no lumps of butter or shortening remain and mixture has a fine texture. Add buttermilk mixture and mix well, until dough has a fairly smooth texture.
Turn out dough onto a floured board and knead the dough, adding moreflour to the board and sprinkling it around the dough until it no longer sticks to your hand or the board (a maximum of 5 minutes).
Pinch off dough in amounts that will fit on the board and roll out to a little less than ¼-inch thickness. Lightly dusting the board with flour will make the dough easier to roll. Cut with a pizza wheel or knife into 3-inch squares or use cookie cutters in the shape you prefer. Place cookies on a cookie sheet that has been lightly greased (use the butter left on the butter wrapper) and dusted with flour. Bake at 325°F about 15 minutes, or until bottom of tea cake is medium brown. (Longer baking times make the tea cakes crispy, but do not allow them to burn.) Makes about 3 dozen.
Get a video tutorial of the recipe.
Contributed by Addie Jane Lewis Odom, via Harold Odom Jr.
