Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Valentine's Day Croutons

 
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I'm sort of excited about this post, and as you will see... I kind of went picture crazy.  Let me start off by saying, I am terrible in the kitchen!  I made 2 batches of these croutons.  The first came out delicious... the second came out well... decent.

It's hard to say because I kinda burned them.  You're seeing the finished product of mostly the first batch.

The good news though?  These came boyfriend approved!! He doesn't even really like croutons, so I was pleasantly surprised.



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This idea came to me immediately after I made the cut out sandwiches in my last post.  The cut outs were so cute, I didn't want to throw them away.

Then, the light bulb came on! Yessssss!

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Ok, I'll try to keep this short.  Here is what you'll need:
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Bread, garlic, butter, heart cutter, bowl, and spoon. Paprika and parmesan cheese (not pictured) are optional.
Leave out 2-3 slices of bread for a few hours, until it starts to get slightly stale.  Then, cut out your hearts.  Try to use as much a the bread slice as possible.  I used one of the piecesin this Wilton kit.
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I totally winged this.  I didn't have a recipe.  If you're better in the kitchen, feel free to adjust the ingredients as you see fit.

I'm no expert, but here are the approx. measurements I used:

3/4 cup of bread
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2 slices of Pepperidge Farm Bread yielded about 3/4 cup, which I think is enough for 2 side salads.
About 1/2 Tablespoon of Butter
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In a bowl, melt it for about 15 seconds in the microwave,

 and mix in about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder (you can adjust this to your taste!)

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Mix it all together, until bread is equally coated with garlic butter mixture.
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This is totally optional.  I sprinkled a tiny bit of paprika in there to add some color.  You can't taste it.  You could add parsley flakes too.
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Spread them out on your cookie sheet, and if you'd like, sprinkle them with fresh parmesan cheese (optional).  Bake at 300 degrees for about 13-15 mins, flipping them half way through.

Watch them carefully, so they don't burn.... trust me!  FYI, I used my toaster oven.  Not sure if that makes a difference.  Like I said, I'm a kitchen dummy.

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(Before baking)
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After
Sorry for the bad iPhone pic.  It's of the first batch.  I took it to show my Mom. This is what they should look like when they are done baking.

Tadaa!
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Let me know what you think, and if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading!

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