To the British, a biscuit is what we identify as a cookie and their version of football is what we call soccer. That said, after watching Ted Lasso and his repetitive “Biscuits with the Boss” session every morning with Rebecca, I just had to find out what the fuss was all about. So my search was on. Only 4 ingredients are on the list to complete this mouth-watering, melt-in-your-mouth simple wonder known as Shortbread Biscuits. If you need to ‘butter up‘ your boss, look no further than this recipe! Its buttery crumb is worthy of your effort. You won’t be disappointed, neither will your boss! 
The Basics:
Most shortbread recipes call for unsalted butter then add salt to the recipe. The recipe below indicates adjustments in salt dependent upon which type of butter you use. Evidently, salt is added to butter as a preservative thus unsalted butter has a shorter shelf life. I wanted to use Kerrygold Irish butter since this style of biscuit is popular in the United Kingdom, which of course includes Ireland. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s all about the experience. You’ll also find similar biscuits in Denmark and Sweden. I have made this with Land O’Lakes unsalted butter and it has turned out just as good!
The British use Castor sugar which is a very fine sugar. It is said that you can make your own with granulated sugar that has been placed in a food processor a bit. Here, however, I used powdered sugar which I found to be evident in some recipes for the Ted Lasso style-biscuits.
What does “short” mean? :
In the context of baking, “short” means there is a high proportion of fat to flour. A “short” dough is usually very rich, crumbly and tender to the bite, not chewy. In this case, there’s one and a half times as much flour as butter.See the ratios below.
The Ratios:
Shortbread needs to be 33% butter. In this ratio, 1 part sugar(115g): 2 parts butter(230g): 3 parts flour(345g). This ratio can be used to adjust the amount of shortbread you wish to make.
With the help of a scale, I adapted these to cup measurements reflected in the recipe below.
- 1 c. confectioner’s sugar
- 1 c. butter(2 sticks)
- 2-3/4 c. flour- (Fluff-Scoop-Level)
The Mix:
For the first step, sift the flour and salt and set aside. Then, mix butter on HIGH using the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl down halfway. It’s appearance should be light and creamy. Then, add in the powdered sugar and continue to beat on HIGH for about 2 minutes, scraping down again halfway.. Its appearance should be pale and fluffy.
Continue to mix on HIGH for two minutes, scraping down halfway. The mixture should appear pale and fluffy.
Now, add in the flour/salt mixture on LOW speed until dough comes together and just until all flour has been absorbed.
The Shaping:
Place two sheets of folded parchment paper, overlapping and matching folds.
Drop the dough into the pan and loosely break it up and distribute evenly to the corners. Gently press to spread out and close gaps/cracks in dough.
You can use a small roller to spread it out evenly or an offset spatula…or both! The spatula is great at smoothing the top out.
Chill Time:
Place pan in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Do not skip this step!
Begin to preheat the oven to 300 degrees before removing pan from the fridge and just prior to beginning the pre-cuts.
Pre-Cuts:
After chilling, I mark indentations where the folded parchment papers match for the estimation of the halfway points. Then, I use my bench knife to cut between them. A knife or a small pastry wheel should work also. A small 6 ” ruler could help you line up the marks, if needed, but it’s not necessary. Since this is an 8″ pan, I can split these 4″ sections into 2 ” strips both ways. To mark these for cutting, I used a 2″ strip of post its. I followed this step by folding them in half for a 1″ strip to cut once more but only one way. When completed, I have 32 shortbread bars. After baking, these score marks will be cut once more to separate the bars.
There’s one more necessary step. Since this dough is 1/3 fat(butter),The dough will need to be pricked or “docked” before baking. I pricked each bar twice with a fork. The purpose of this step is to create vents for steam to escape while baking and to prevent the “biscuit” from billowing up. I actually do this when blind-baking a pie crust. Now this reasoning helps that step make more sense!
The Bake:
Once oven is preheated, place pan on upper middle rack and bake for 65-70 minutes (8″x8″ square pan) or about 50-55 minutes for a 1/4 sheet pan. When the edges are slightly golden brown, remove pan from the oven to a cooling rack. After resting for about 10-15 minutes, re-cut the bars with the bench knife or othe tool. Let them cool completely. Using the tabs of the bottom sheet of parchment paper, lift up and out of pan.
Time to eat!
Once completely cooled, you may place them in a sealed container for storage. Look at those crumbs! These Shortbread Biscuits will melt in your mouth! They don’t last long in my house! Serve with your favorite tea or coffee!
To quote Ted Lasso, ” I feel like we fell out of the lucky tree and hit every branch on the way down, ended up in a pile of cash and Sour Patch Kids.” The end result was worth all of the trials along the way to reach this perfection!
Ingredients
- 1 c unsalted butter- Kerrygold, if possible Salted butter may be used but decrease salt to 1/4 t.
- 1 c confectioner's sugar
- 2 1/2 c all-purpose flour-fluffed, spooned and leveled If using White Lily flour, use 2 3/4 cup- fluffed, spooned and leveled.
- 3/4 t sea salt If using salted butter, decrease amount to 1/4 t.
Instructions
- Sift flour and salt and set aside.
- Using a paddle attachment, mix butter on HIGH for about 5 minutes, scraping at halfway point.
- Add sugar . Continue to mix on HIGH for about 2 minutes until appearance is pale in color and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl halfway.
- Add flour mixture. Blend in on LOW speed until it begins to clump together and all flour is incorporated.
- Line 8" x 8" pan (or a 1/4 sheet pan) with parchment paper.
- Dump dough in center of pan and distribute it. Pat/press it gently to the outside edges of the pan. You can use a small roller or an offset spatula to help spread and level dough out.
- Chill i n the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 300 °F.
- Using a bench knife, or other tool, cut into 16 squares or 32 rectangles(my preference) in the 8" x 8" pan.
- With a fork, pierce each section(rectangles) twice. This allows the heat to penetrate and bake the dough.
- Bake until edges appear to be slightly golden brown. This will vary depending on the size of pan you choose to use. From my experience, about 65-70 minutes for an 8' x 8" pan and about 50-55 minutes for a quarter sheet pan.
- Remove to a cooling rack and let it rest about 10-15 minutes. Use bench knife to recut sections scored before baking. Allow it to cool completely. Lift shortbread from pan using parchment paper.
- Separate and store in a sealed container.
