Auntee Edna's Tea Cakes

T was bored last night, so I suggested he try another recipe from the back of one of our library books. He baulked a bit when I handed him Auntee Edna by Ethel Footman Smothers. After all, it's the story of a young girl, and her sister, on a visit to the house of their "old fashioned" aunt.

To make matters worse, the recipe at the back of the book is for tea cakes - girlie to say the least! But, I reminded T, that it was Mother's Day weekend, and so girlie food was okay.

The recipe was pretty simple. I let him try it by himself. It apparently is a kid friendly recipe, because he (aged 12) managed it alone. I only helped him with rolling out the dough, and showed him what it meant when it said to use a wide mouth jar to cut circles.

The cakes did smell "vanilla sweet" while they were baking, just like it says in the story. Though, I think they ended up tasting, and having a texture more like sugar cookies, than how I imagined tea cakes might be. You can look inside the book, and see the recipe for yourself, here, on Amazon's preview. If you do, be sure to check out some of the little details included in Wil Clay's beautiful illustrations, and see if they don't take you back to visiting an elderly friend, or relative's house, in your own childhood.

Helping T roll out, and cut the dough, prompted me to share some stories of "how things used to be", just like Auntee Edna did as she helped her niece. One of the things I shared with T, was how I learned to roll out dough in Home Ec. class in high school. That reminded me, that in school, our baking projects weren't done until the dishes were clean, counters wiped, and floor swept.

It was one "old fashioned" idea, he thought we could leave in the past.

He did a great job cleaning though, and sugar cookies, or not, the "tea cakes" made for a pretty tasty pre-Mother's Day treat. And, even better, just as the story promised, an evening of baking, telling stories, and spending time together, drove the boredom completely away.

It's great to be a homeschooler.