Abbey’s Little Baby Loves Short’nin’ Bread

If you’re from the south, you may have heard the song, Short’nin’ Bread. I’m from the South and never heard it until last year. I thought my husband was kidding when he started singing a really poor version of it to me when I was making a batch of southern biscuits. Actually, I thought he was drunk.

He said,

He called his mom in South Carolina for back-up and she and her husband started singing the song in unison over speaker phone. All that did for me was make me think that his entire family was drunk. But yes, apparently it is a song and there is actually something out there called Shortening Bread, or if you’re from around here, Short’nin’ Bread is more like it. His folks know the song well, but never were able to answer my question about what exactly shortening bread is…

So this year for Christmas I decided to make them a batch. I did a lot of research and came across a million and six different recipes for shortening bread. So I decided to trust the oldest recipe I could find and even then, I had to make a couple adjustments to make it current and personal. So, I suppose this is my recipe for Short’nin’ bread, which will just add one more different version to the food world. Basically, my version is a sort of shortbread cookie using brown sugar and flavored with cinnamon. It’s delicious and was incredibly easy to prepare, using ingredients you should already have on hand. My in-laws seemed to like it so now I’m sharing it with you. Enjoy!

*Abbey’s Short’nin’ Bread
-In a mixing bowl, cream together 1 stick of softened, unsalted butter and 1/3 cup of light brown sugar. When the mixture is fluffy, slowly mix in 1 cup of all purpose flour, a rounded 1/4 tsp of kosher salt and a good sprinkling of cinnamon.
-Press this mixture into a greased 8*8in baking dish and bake at 325 for 25 minutes, or until the top has reached a light golden brown.
-Slice it into triangles while its still warm and allow to cool completely before serving.
(These can survive several days on the counter, or can be frozen for later use.)