Ted Lasso season 3 will be available this week. It seems only appropriate to post about those wonderful biscuits (Ted would call them cookies of course) that he brings to his boss Rebecca’s office every morning. In case you do not know what I am talking about, Ted Lasso is a TV show about an American college Football coach (that’s Ted) from Kansas who moves to England to coach a British soccer team. Long story why this happens but the show is very funny, sweet and well-written. We love it in my household and are looking forward to the new season.
Impatient? Skip to the recipe
On one of his early days as coach, Ted brings his standoffish boss (and owner of said English soccer team) a small pink box of shortbread biscuits. She loves them and she tries to figure out where the hell did this chipper talkative guy buy the cookies from. Well, he did not. He bakes them every morning and brings them in as we soon find out. He’s that type of guy.
To make them I tried a couple of variations but I mostly used the recipe from Regula Ysewijn’s The British Baking Book. It’s simple, uses very few ingredients and produces perfectly tender, buttery treats that are great with a black cup of coffee or tea. My wife even bought some cute little pink boxes to put them in and passed them to our friends. They looked very much like those boxes that Ted presents to Rebecca every morning.
The shortbread dough is nothing more than butter, fine sugar (see the note in the recipe about that) and flour. It is spread into a baking dish, baked and sliced in the pan while still warm. Then sprinkle it well with more sugar (or even better vanilla sugar – also see the note in the recipe about this one), let it cool and enjoy.
In trying out different variations I also made a version that comes out more crispy than tender. This crispy one is very nice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drowned in espresso (aka Gelato Affogato). This one is a slice and bake cookie. I form the dough into a log and refrigerate it. When firm it gets sliced and baked. I have both recipes below but my favorite is certainly the original and classic tender and buttery version.
Shortbread Biscuits (Cookies)
Servings: 24 – 28 Pieces
The traditional version: Tender and Buttery
- 175 gr Butter, softened
- 75 gr Fine Sugar*
- 225 gr All-Purpose Flour
- Pinch of salt (about 3 gr)
- Additional Fine Sugar (or vanilla sugar**) for sprinkling
Directions
- Cream the butter and sugar using a handheld mixer until creamy, about 5 minutes.
- Mix in the flour, and salt using a spatula until well combined.
- Heat your oven to 325 F.
- Butter a 9 inch square pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Put the cookie dough in the pan and using the spatula and your hands pat it to fill the whole pan as evenly as possible. The dough is pretty soft and this should not be too tricky to do.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The goal is to have the edges a bit brown but not to brown the whole surface. The shortbread cookies are mostly pale yellow in color.
- As soon as you take them out of the oven use a sharp knife to cut the still warm dough into 24 – 28 pieces while still in the pan. Sprinkle generously with more fine or vanilla sugar and let them cool before taking them out of the pan.
- The biscuits last a good week at least in a covered container.
* To make fine sugar (you can also buy it) I put some granulated sugar in a coffee grinder and blitz it for 30 seconds or so. You can make a large batch with a food processor as well
** To make vanilla sugar I fill a jar with granulated sugar and bury cut up vanilla beans in it. I keep adding any spent vanilla beans that I sliced for other uses as well. Every so often I add more sugar to the jar.
The crispy version
- 120 gr Butter, softened
- 75 gr Powdered Sugar
- 1 Egg yolk
- 140 gr All-Purpose Flour
- Pinch of salt (about 3 gr)
Directions
- Cream the butter and sugar using a handheld mixer until creamy, about 5 minutes.
- Mix in the flour, and salt using a spatula until well combined.
- Form the dough into a log that’s about 3 inches in diameter. I use a plastic wrap to help in forming it.
- Wrap well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until very firm and sliceable. You can do this a day or two ahead of time.
- Heat your oven to 325 F.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and slice into ¼ inch thick rounds.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange the dough rounds leaving an inch between them. Use a fork to prick holes in the dough in a couple of places.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The goal is to have the edges a bit brown but not to brown the whole surface. The shortbread cookies are mostly pale yellow in color.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on a rack.
- The biscuits last a good week at least in a covered container.
Oven Dried Tomatoes 