Ted Lasso's Shortbread Cookies
Whether you fancy yourself the Rebecca Welton character, or Ted Lasso himself, you know you have a need to eat or make shortbread one way or another. My Secret Life of Cookies podcast guest, Professor Jennifer Taub, had the brilliant idea to make the “official” Apple+ Ted Lasso recipe – but me being me, I had to tweak it.
The tweaks are slight (more salt!) and the method is simplified.
The result is a shortbread that may just make you exclaim as Rebecca does.
Enjoy.
Ted Lasso’s Shortbread
(Based closely on the Apple+ “Official” Ted Lasso Shortbread, with tweaks to improve the method. Ted likes things simple. So do I.)
What You’ll Need:
8- or 9-inch square or round baking pan
Pink bakery boxes
8 ounces (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Sugar for sprinkling on the top before baking (I used demerara for a satisfying crunch.)
Possible additions:
Ted was a traditional sort of guy. You don’t have to be. Here are some wonderful possible additions to the shortbread, and when you should add them:
Add with the butter and sugar:
1 teaspoon citrus zest
Fold in once just before turning into the baking pan:
Minced, crystallized ginger
Chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
2 teaspoons citrus zest of your choosing
Sprinkle on top before baking:
· Cinnamon sugar
· Chai sugar
· Maple sugar
Note: I used a stand mixer because I’m always in a hurry. You could use a hand mixer, or just a wooden spoon and a large bowl. Use a larger bowl than you think so the flour doesn’t go flying everywhere when you start to mix. Except during the creaming phase, a delicate hand is called for.
What You’ll Do:
1. Butter your baking pan of choice.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter on medium speed for 1 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the confectioner’s sugar. Slowly raise the speed on the mixer and cream the butter and sugar together, about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and beater down once or twice during, um, fluffing.
3. Sift the flour and salt together and add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to clump together in small bits. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for another 30 seconds or so.
4. Dump the contents of the bowl into your baking pan and gently, like a wee kitten, press the dough evenly into the pan.
5. Using a sharp knife, pizza cutter or bench scraper, score the dough into even pieces, cutting down merely 1/8th inch. This makes it easier to cut them after baking. Prick each biscuit with the tines of a fork.
6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
8. Bake the shortbread until pale golden and just about firm to the touch, 45-50 minutes depending on your oven/your pan/biorhythms, etc.
9. Let cool for 20 minutes and cut the shortbread while still warm.
10. Yes, they are nice warm, but the blessing of shortbread is they get better with age. Here’s to all of us being like shortbread.
