Terrific Tea Cake Recipes

We combined two classic Southern favorites--pecans and tea cakes--to make one irresistible cookie. If you're a fan of pecan Sandies, you'll love these.

These traditional Moravian Tea Cakes are simple, cake-like cookies made with butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and leavening ingredients. These tea cakes get their distinct flavor from the addition of lemon extract and ground nutmeg. Traditionally these cookies are served plain, but you can decorate with frosing and sprinkles if you wish.

Russian tea cakes (or Russian tea cookies), Mexican wedding cakes, Viennese almond crescents—many countries have their own version of these melt-in-your-mouth butter-and-nut cookies. This one was created by Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet patisserie, in San Francisco and Palo Alto. We love it for its extreme crispness and toasty brown-butter flavor, and because it's not too sweet; most of the sugar is on the outside.

Just like your granny used to make!

As a child, Wallace Yvonne McNair, the administrator and curator of the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center in Denver, often craved this snack—a glass of milk and one or two of the big, soft, jam-dotted cookies that her mother called tea cakes.

Even though they're called cakes, tea cakes are old-fashioned cookies made with with butter, sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla. They're perfect for afternoon tea or to enjoy with a glass of lemonade.

These cookies, less sweet and slightly richer than classic tea cakes, are baked in S shapes.