Tea Cakes (1840)

Tea Cakes.

 Tried a new receipt last time I was at Steilacoom: tea cakes from Economical Cookery. It's one of those very terse receipts, but not so different from Beeton's dessert biscuits, or most of the other cookie-like things I've tried before:

TEA CAKE. Two cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, 1 cup of milk, half a teaspoonful of pearlash, flour enough to make it stiff enough to roll out; add carraway seed or spice. 

I actually made a full batch this time, and even got to use the specified leavener, and I had some pearlash on hand. Huzzah for home-brew supply shops.

Two ingredients do not have specified quantities: flour and spice. I ended up using 3 cups of flour, then working in another 1-1.5 cups flour as I was preparing to roll it out. I found this still a still a bit too sticky to do so, but being pressed for time, I chose to roll it into balls rather than rolling out and cutting. Next time I try this recipe, I think I would start with 4.5 or 5 cups flour, plus some for rolling. I'd also be tempted to chill the dough overnight before rolling it out--the sticky consistency of the dough reminded me of how my modern cutout cookie dough looks before it is allowed to rest. 

For the spice I estimated about 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp cloves. I found this adequately flavorful; my guests' initial feedback was positive, though there was one vote that it could have a bit more spice. Next time I might increase each by 1/4 tsp and see how that goes.

One batch made two very full pans of cakes; in less of a hurry, I'd probably divide it into 3 pans since they do spread out a bit. I baked them at 350F for about 10-12 minutes per pan; this saw the edges starting to darken noticeably while the centers were barely done, but I think that had more to do with the shape of the cakes than not.

Overall, this was a fairly easy and straightforward recipe, and I think it fits well into the tea cake/dessert biscuit niche.