Flat soft sugar cookies from enslaved kitchens — vanilla or anise, minimal ingredients. The original Black grandmother cookie, older than any other.
Teacakes predate the cookie in Black Southern tradition. They were the treat that enslaved people could make with what was available in a plantation kitchen — sometimes with permission, sometimes not. They are the cookie that grandmother made and handed to you through the screen door. They are irreplaceable.
Teacakes are a simple butter-sugar-flour cookie with minimal nutritional density. They are lower in sugar than most commercial cookies. Their portion size is naturally smaller than modern cookies. No therapeutic claim — the healing is generational.
Teacakes are rolled and cut thick (1/4 inch minimum) so they stay soft rather than crisp. Anise seed or anise extract is the traditional flavor in some regions; vanilla is the more common modern version. Nutmeg is a common accent. Do not overbake — pull when the edges are set and the center looks underdone; they firm as they cool.
Free, no account needed to ask.