The lovable lead character in the smash hit TV series Ted Lasso is technically from Kansas. But he just seems so Southern. “Y’all” is his favorite pronoun. He delivers criticism in joke form. He punctuates a powerful speech (in that not-so-subtle accent) with the words “barbecue sauce.” American college football makes his heart go pitter-patter (but he’s open to learning about other sports). And the actor who plays him, Jason Sudeikis, was born in Fairfax, Virginia (but moved to Kansas as a kid, darn it). But perhaps the most Southern-seeming thing about Ted is how he wins over his intimidating boss, Rebecca, by baking for her. Every single day.
In a new cookbook, The Unofficial Ted Lasso Cookbook, two friends who are huge Lasso fans created recipes inspired by the show, including “Biscuits with the Boss.” These aren’t Southern biscuits—these are British-style biscuits, or what Americans might call shortbread cookies. “At the beginning, Rebecca is unfriendly and harsh,” the cookbook’s co-author Aki Berry says. “But Ted bakes her these biscuits every day, and you can see him in his kitchen, sanding sugar on them, and he presents them to her in this cute little pink box. She absolutely adores them.”
Berry, who grew up in Texas, does feel some kinship to Ted. “He could totally be Southern,” she says. “He’s charming and hospitable and cooking is so fundamental to him. He cooks as an extension of himself.”
Berry generously shares the recipe here, and in the new cookbook (and on the blog she writes with co-author Meg Chano) she includes instructions for folding your own tiny pastry box—to deliver to anyone who could stand to soften a little, bless their heart.
