Hi Everyone!  In your family or group of friends are there food traditions?  I mean, do your loved ones have signature dishes? Does it seem wrong somehow if you make someone else’s dish?  Well, in my family (the Goode side) that feeling of protectiveness and competition is becoming more prevalent. As the nieces and nephews grow older and develop some mad cooking skills of their own the need to one-up each other is growing.  One of the signature recipes in my family is the famous Tea Ring. The recipe is Mom’s but my sister, Marilyn, started making them for our Christmas gathering many years ago. Now she has to make two and hide one so that there is some left for the rest of us to take home.  There have been good-natured arguments about these Tea Rings and many threats to abscond with the whole extra ring before anyone else can find it. This past year I finally worked up the nerve to ask for the recipe. Marilyn gladly gave it to me. The thing is, it was an exact copy of Mom’s recipe and while it gave the ingredients and amounts; it gave no instructions.  Yikes! Marilyn verbally gave me her process which I promptly forgot. I did a little research of other Tea Ring recipes to get an idea of what to do. I finally got brave enough to give it a try. You see, I have an irrational fear of yeast baking. I needed to make a Mardi Gras dessert for a work potluck and I decided that the Tea Ring was close enough to King Cake to work. I gave it a shot and it actually turned out great!  Winner, Winner, Tea Cake Dinner! My husband and sons asked who was going to break it to Marilyn that someone else could make the famous Tea Ring. Not me! I am perfectly happy to let her make them for Christmas. But I know that I can do it and that is all that counts. And, I can make them whenever I want. This is not a good thing for my thighs. I am even playing around with the basic recipe to make other goodies.  More to come on that.

Start off by adding your yeast to the water along with 1 teaspoon of the sugar.  The water should be around 100 degrees. I try to get mine just slightly cooler than my bath water.  You can certainly test it with a thermometer to be absolutely sure. Let this mixture sit until the yeast activates and a foam develops on the top of the liquid.  

Meanwhile, mix the shortening and remaining sugar in a large bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer.  A stand mixer works better for this recipe since a dough hook is recommended toward the end of mixing.  Add the eggs and salt and mix well.

If you have a dough hook for your mixer go ahead and switch your beaters for it.  It will be much easier to get your dough to the correct consistency. Add the flour a little at a time alternating with small amounts of the yeast mixture.  When all of the flour and liquid have been added continue to mix on high speed until a nice elastic dough has formed and pulled away from the edge of the bowl slightly.  When I made mine for this post the dough was too sticky as you can see in the photo. I added another ½ cup of flour and the dough came together. It does not need to be a completely formed dough ball.  You will be adding a bit more flour during the kneading process after rising.

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