(Almost) Too Pretty to Eat

Birmingham-based Ginger Lily Southern Teacakes’ creations are not your average cookie. With intricate designs, a unique brownie-like texture and a more subtle sweetness, the tea cakes (a specific type called springerle) are what baker Cherri Jones calls a “grown-up” cookie.

They’re also the result of cross-cultural pollination, based on European traditions but stirring in some Southern influences too. Jones began baking at her grandmother Lily’s side as a child and also soaked up knowledge from her other grandmother’s Russian heritage. “I love combining what I have learned from them both to create a slightly Southern version of a traditional European springerle,” she said. Others love the combo too, leading her to found her company in 2018 and share her treats with a larger audience.

Even as Jones works to incorporate Southern flare in these old-world cookies, she’s faithful to the historic recipe that originated in Switzerland in the 1500s — she has to be. “Traditionally these cookies have always been made with vanilla, anise or almond, but I enjoy finding new ways to add Southern flavors,” she said. “But, this is a very technical recipe, so adding ingredients for my Pecan Praline, for example, can be tricky.”

And the taste is only part of the cookies’ appeal. Each is a work of art, their whimsical shapes, delicate flowers and detailed scenes made usingmolds, which themselves are considered art
in Europe, fashioned by master carvers and featured in museums.

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