Old Fashioned Chewy Sugar Cookies (Tea Cakes)
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Old Fashioned Chewy Sugar Cookies aka Tea Cakes… You know the ones. The sugar cookies that take you back to the cozy kitchen with your grandmother. The kitchen smelled liked vanilla, and she never lost her patience of raised her voice regardless of how much flour you spilled!
Yep, these are those Chewy Sugar Cookies…. or Tea Cakes if you prefer.
They are buttery, crisp, lightly browned around the edges, and chewy in the center. And, you grab as many as your little hands can hold as soon as they’ve cooled enough. Nothing compares.
Old Fashioned Chewy Sugar Cookies
One thing I like about these cookies is you don’t roll and cut them. Furthermore, you don’t have to chill the dough. We all know how important that is if you’re making them with little ones!!
This is one of the few recipes that I have published in which you can substitute margarine for the
Also, you will melt the
Tea Cake Cookies Cook Time
Using melted
You can easily turn these cookies into snickerdoodles by adding 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the sugar in which you roll the cookies.
Refrigerating Old Fashioned Chewy Sugar Cookies
As mentioned above, you do not have to refrigerate the dough before you bake these sugar cookies. However, you can if you want to.
I did an experiment. In the left photo below, the cookies on the right I baked immediately and the cookies on the left I refrigerated the dough for 24 hours. I kept everything the same: the cookie size, oven temperature, and cooking time. The texture of the cookies I baked immediately was slightly crisper compared to the refrigerated dough. The refrigerated dough, as expected, didn’t spread as much and was slightly softer.
Why did I test refrigerating the dough? We like fresh and warm cookies. Most of the time, I bake a few cookies at a time and keep the dough refrigerated. This experiment showed me that I can chill this sugar cookie dough with only slight differences rather than immediately make them. (The recipe below reflects baking the cookies immediately.)
Old Fashioned Chewy Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour sift then measure
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ½ cups granulated sugar
- + ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 2 ounces cream cheese full-fat, cut into 8 pieces
- 6 tablespoons butter unsalted, melted
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or almond extract
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat it to 350℉. Line a sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper. (I use a silicone mat.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.2 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Place 1 and ½ cups of sugar and cream cheese in the bowl to your stand mixer. (Add the remaining ⅓ cup sugar to a small bowl.) Cream until mixed together. Pour melted butter over the mixture and mix together. Add the oil and mix until incorporated.1 and ½ cups granulated sugar, 2 ounces cream cheese, 6 tablespoons butter, ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- Add the egg, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.1 large egg, 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low unti combined.
- Using a 2 tablespoon spring-release scoop, scoop the dough out and roll each ball in the remaining ⅓ cup sugar. Place on your sheet pan and with a flat-bottom glass press the ball into a flat 4-inch circle.+ ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in 350℉ oven. (See notes above on cooking time.)
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.