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Make homemade Heart Croutons from scratch with this simple, customizable croutons recipe! These baked, 4 ingredient croutons will add so much love to your soups and salads, especially for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or birthdays.
Heart Croutons
Heart-shaped croutons adorn soups, salads, or anything you love to put croutons on. Make something as simple as a Ceasar salad look extra special by simply adding some easy-to-make heart-shaped croutons!
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Ingredients:
- White sliced bread
- Butter
- Salt
- Italian Seasoning
You will also need a microwave-safe bowl, a basting brush, parchment paper, and a baking sheet. Most importantly, you will need a heart-shaped cookie cutter! I use this set of heart cookie cutters because they come in various sizes for all of your different baking projects.
Homemade croutons are just about the easiest thing ever to make, and a SO MUCH better than anything you can buy at the store. They’re also easy to customize with whatever seasonings you might be craving, they can be made with any kind of bread that you have on hand (including gluten-free). Once you go to a homemade crouton, there’s no going back.
Instructions:
The hardest part, without a doubt, is not eating them all off the baking sheet while they’re still warm. They are an irresistible combination of chewy and crispy and make for an amazing salad topping or a soup topper. They have an addicting combination of butter, salt, bread, and seasoning.
Both sides of the little heart croutons are basted with butter, salt, and seasonings. You can use any size heart cookie cutter you desire. If they come out to be a little larger than typical croutons, it makes them even more noticeable and fun. They decorate your plates and bowls in such an adorable way!
They bake for about 15 minutes. But, of course, that depends on the size of your hearts. Larger hearts might take a couple of minutes longer to turn golden, as smaller hearts might bake a little longer. Just be sure to keep your eye on them because fresh bread can burn quickly!
- Cut your bread using a cookie cutter – You can use any shape you like! Hearts are fun for Valentine’s Day, Anniversaries, Mother’s Day, Birthdays, or just for fun
- Spread out on a baking sheet – Place the croutons onto a parchment-covered baking sheet, and spread them out in a single layer.
- Brush with melted butter and seasonings – Melt butter in a small bowl, stir in salt, and brush it over each heart. Then, sprinkle on Italian seasoning.
- Bake until crispy – Bake until the croutons reach your desired level of crispiness. (If they start to get too brown, lower the heat and let them bake lower and slower.)
- Serve or store – Then, serve immediately. Or let the croutons cool until they reach room temperature, then store them in a sealed container for a week.
More Valentine’s Ideas
Heart Shaped Croutons
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- Basting brush
- Baking sheet
- Microwave safe bowl
Ingredients
- 6 pieces White sliced bread
- 2 tbs. butter, melted
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Place parchment paper on your baking sheet
- Cut small hearts on slices of white bread using a cookie cutter
- Place bread hearts on the baking sheet
- Melt the butter in a small microwave-safe bowl
- Mix salt into the melted butter
- Brush the melted butter on top of each heart
- Sprinkle half of the Italian seasoning on top
- Flip over each heart and repeat steps #7 and #8
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the croutons become golden. TIP: Larger croutons might take a couple of minutes longer. Smaller croutons may bake faster, so keep your eye on them because they can burn quickly.
