I’m finally back from an unplanned blogging break last week. Our family went to Mexico for Spring Break and I had several posts ready to go BUT…. When we got to Mexico, our resort’s Wi-Fi was pretty much nonexistent and I couldn’t publish the posts. Oh well, I think it was a sign that I needed to completely {and literally} unplug and relax. Â I missed you guys though and I am glad to back sharing a yummy recipe with you!
I had never heard of a tea cake cookie until I moved from Minnesota to Texas. I’m not sure if it’s a southern thing but they have become one of my favorite treats because they are really more like a mini cake. Â Â I have tried several different recipes trying to create a lemon blossom tea cake cookie but nothing was that great. Â I stumbled across this recipe when I needed a last minute tray of cookies and doctored up a ready-made cookie mix. Â These bad boys just blew up like fluffy tea cake cookies that I love and I couldn’t believe that the all this time that the solution came from a mix and not from scratch!
The best part of all is that all you need is a bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Snack Mix (not the full size). Â
 The tea cakes only work with the 8.5 ounce snack mix. While I also tried the recipe using the full size package, they did not puff up cake-like but instead were a more traditional lemony sugar cookie, which was also really yummy too if you prefer more of a sugar cookie.  The snack mix version of this mix is available at Walmart, Target and General Dollar (at least in my town). You would never know that these tea cakes or cookies came from a mix, they taste homemade and are really out of this world!
Here is the recipe:
Lemon Blossom Tea Cake Cookies (Makes 12 large tea cake cookies)
Tea Cakes:
1 (8.5 oz.) Package of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie SNACK MIX
1/2 of a box of 3.5oz. Lemon Instant Pudding Mix (I double this recipe so that I use the whole box)
1/4 Cup Margarine  (BUTTER WILL NOT WORK)
4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Zest of a Lemon
2 Tablespoons of Water
Glaze:
2 cups Powdered sugar
4-5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ingredients for the tea cakes in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Using a tablespoon, scoop out a spoonful like this:
Just tap the mix from the spoon onto the cookie sheet and do not flatten or try to shape because the middle is what fluffs up. When you have filled up your cookie sheet, it will look something like this:
In my oven, I baked the tea cakes for exactly 8 minutes at 375 and removed them. Â After 5 minutes, I transferred them to a cookie cooling rack. Â I then let them cool completely (about an hour) before I glazed them.
Next, mix the ingredients for the glaze and spoon over the each tea cake cookie:
The glaze takes a good hour or so to harden.
To make a more flat like lemon blossom sugar cookie, use the regular size Betty Crocker mix and use the recipe above except add an egg and use a 1/2 cup of butter and eliminate the water but still only use half of the box of pudding. Â Instead of glaze, maybe try a lemon frosting or sprinkling sugar on them.
Enjoy friends!
Cheers!
Cyndy
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Cindy Eikenberg says
Cyndy, these look delicious…I am a huge lemon lover! Thanks for sharing this recipe and I shared this on my FB page, and of course, pinned! Have a great week!
Cyndy says
Thank you Cindy for sharing!! Hope your week is fabulous too!!
Lynn in MN says
Hi Cyndy,
Do you use “instant” pudding, or the “cook and serve”? Can’t wait to try these!!
Thanks so much,
Lynn
Cyndy says
I used instant pudding. I will go back and edit to make sure everyone knows. Enjoy Lynn! They are so yummy! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Jane says
Cindy,
These look so great and tasty. Do they come out that round and uniform looking by just dropping them on the cookie sheet that way? I am taking them somewhere and would hate for them to be all different shapes and sizes.
Thanks,
Jane
Cyndy says
The tea cakes come out pretty smooth and any inconsistencies pretty go away after glazing. However, you could try just slightly rounding/smoothing the top of the mound of dough with the back of a spoon before baking to make sure they are smooth. Also, I did’t try flattening to see if they still rise as fluffy as the way I did it. I was just so happy to get the big and fluffy center, that I didn’t try anything else. Maybe try one and see if they still plump up? Let me know if you try something.
Thanks so much for stopping by Jane!!
Jane says
Cyndy,
Sorry my iPad wants to spell your name incorrectly (see previous entry). I will catch it from here on out!
Jane
Laurel says
Hi! In your picture, it looks like you have an egg as an ingredient- but it’s not listed. Do you use one? We’re an eggless household…
Thanks!
Cyndy says
Ha! Ignore the egg Laurel. No egg is this recipe. That picture was taken when I used the full sized mix (I know the snack mix is pictured) to make the flat lemon sugar cookies. No egg for needed for the snack mix that makes the fluffy tea cake cookies. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for stopping by!
Mike @ Webakecookies.com says
Cyndy, these Lemon Blossom Cookies look sooo good. I want to bake a batch tonight! I like the fact that I can use the snack mix to speed things up. We are definitely going to give these a try. Thanks for sharing!
Jean says
Mine did not get done at 8 minutes. How do you know if they are done? Should they be slightly brown on the bottom? I had to put them back in and bake an extra three minutes after taking them out at 8 minutes. Then they fell. Darn. I think they are still too gooey. They don’t taste bad, but they are definitely flat.
Janika says
Trying these for bridal shower treats! They look heavenly! Is the butter softened or melted? Thanks!
Cyndy says
There is no butter in my tea cookie recipe. Only margarine. They won’t work with butter.
Jody says
I tried them, but they didn’t come out quite right! They were gooey after 10 minutes and fell! Do you use softened butter or melted? Also, did you grease the cookie sheet? Thanks very much!
Cyndy says
There is no butter in my tea cookie recipe. Only margarine. Did you also use the regular mix instead of the snack. If you do not use margarine or the snack mix, it will not work. Like I mentioned in the post, they will be flat if you use butter but they will still be good.
Brandon says
Cyndy your cookies remind me of a childhood cookie I used to love. They were big cake like fluffy sugar cookies. They only seem to sell them in chief supermarkets in Ohio. But when I saw the pick I was like maybe they sell them n Texas to. To get to the point, Would i still get that same cake like fluffy cookie like your lemon ones if i were to take out the lemon stuff. Please help me. Thanks
Carolyn says
Hi Cyndy,
I want to make these for a church event and I’m wondering if the freeze well and should I freeze them glazed or unglazed?
D Stull says
Did not work! Totally flat and too greasy. Had to add an egg, floiur and baking powder to save the ingredients. Then they turned out like a tea cake.
Cyndy says
If you didn’t use the snack size of the mix, the recipe will not work and will be flat and greasy (as I mentioned in the post). There is a difference between the mix in the snack size and the regular for some reason. I’m glad you were able to salvage them.
D Stull says
Have you made these lately? The snack size cookie mix only has 6.25 oz now?
Dora Stevenson says
Cyndy~
Thank you for sharing this…Today I made some tea cakes from another recipe that folks raved about, but the cakes tasted more like biscuits..Disappointing and these were a roll & cut so took a lot longer than a ‘drop’ cookie like yours….So I went on search for another tea cake recipe and you hit my ‘hot spot’… I lo-o-o-ove lemon..I only have one (1) question..You indicate you ‘doubled’ the recipe and used the full box of the pudding mix…I’m guessing you used two (2) packages of the cookie snack size, doubled everything else, full box of pudding mix and came out with (24 or 2 dozen) cookies instead, right? Gonna take a stab at this one and love it that I don’t have to ‘roll and cut’ the cookies! I appreciate your sharing. Thanks…Dora
Dora Stevenson says
Ohhh..and are these firm on the outside and soft on the inside?