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Grandma Himel’s Old Fashioned Tea Cakes
My great grandma was Grandma Stroud . . not Grandma Himel. She always had tea cakes. I have tried every tea cake recipe I find hoping to duplicate my great grandma’s tea cakes. I probably don’t even remember at this point what they tasted like but I have this thought in my head about them. My lovely friend from south Louisiana, Nita, shared a recipe from one of her neighbors from their Grandma Himel. I immediately made them and they’re very, very close to my great grandma’s . . as close as I’ve come.
When I made them, I halved the recipe. For three eggs, use either 1 very large or 2 very small eggs and it works. The recipe calls for vanilla butternut extract. I’d never heard of that and used clear vanilla. Nita said she ordered the vanilla butternut extract from Amazon.
Ingredients:
6 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 oz. vanilla butternut extract
Directions:
Melt butter. Add extract, eggs, sugar, and milk. Mix well. Stir in flour and baking powder. Roll out, cut with cookie cutter. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350° for 13 – 15 minutes. They will not be brown but a light yellow.

Hi Judy,
Thank you for the lovely recipe. I always have some problems translating things to European measurements (I live in the Netherlands), but I have some lists for that. Only a stick of butter is a problem. Can you tell me the weight of one of those?
Thank you so much.
Kind regards, Merel
How much is 1 oz. vanilla butternut extract? I found some of this flavoring on the King Arthur website.
A stick of butter equals 1/4 pound and 1 oz. equals 2 tablespoons (6 teaspoons).
I made the (1/2 recipe) with my 3 year old granddaughter. She and her 5 year old sister loved them. They like plain foods, no nuts etc. so this is a perfect recipe for them. I also enjoyed it with my tea. Go figure! (Tea cakes with tea is a perfect duo)