This is my September post for the The Book Club Cook Book Cooking Crew group. Despite my best intentions of getting the post up earlier in the month here I am posting on September 24th. As I mentioned last month this is a group where each month a new book will be chosen from The Book Club Cook Book, a cook book that has recipes from many popular recent and older novels. The goal of this club is to pick a book each month and either make the recipe from The Book Club Cook Book or another recipe inspired by the novel.
If you are interested in join see this post from Camilla, our leader. There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book so keep reading. This September book was A Lesson in Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. I wasn't familiar with this book until this month. I always love being introduced to something new, especially a good book.
The book takes place in Louisiana and has all sorts of Southern flair including the food. The main character, Jefferson, is on death row. His grandmother sends all sorts of food to him to show him kindness and love. At first he refuses but then finally accepts the gifts. The acceptance is a turning point where Jefferson feels worthy again.
One of the food gifts Jefferson's Grandmother sends is tea cakes. These are a Southern specialty that is a cross between sugar cookies and scones. I was thinking about making some jambalaya for my recipe this month but my sweet tooth won out once I saw the Book Club Cook Book recipe. The tea cakes are sweet but not as sweet as a typical cookie. You can tell why they have the name tea cakes once you try one because they would go great with a cup of tea.
The recipe makes a bunch - about 5 dozen cookies. We were eating theses for days which definitely wasn't a bad thing. I only wish we could have had an in-person book discussion to share these cookies.
Old Fashioned Tea Cakes
by
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients (5 dozen cookies)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well.
Add eggs beating until blended after each addition. Add lemon peel, beating until blended.
Combine flour, soda, and salt; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended after each addition.
Divide dough into 4 portions. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, and place 1 inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown; let stand on baking sheet 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.
And be sure to check out some of the other bloggers joining in on the fun.
You can follow along with the hashtag #thebookclubcookbookCC on social media or check out the group Pinterest board. Find out how you can join along with us below.
Giveaway
This month Renee at Tortillas and Honey, this month's host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!
One of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from September 1st till September 30th at 6 o'clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Disclosure: Renee received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.
*Disclosure: Renee received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.
These look gorgeous! I'm definitely going to have to give these a try. Thanks for participating this month, I hope you enjoyed the book!
ReplyDeleteI love tea cakes!! The simplicity is just amazing!
ReplyDeleteI wish we were a real live meet each month group too so that we could have eaten these with you. YUM
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad someone made the tea cakes. Thanks for participating in the event this month!
ReplyDelete