Cinnamon Toast is a comfort, isn’t it? Make snacking sweet cinnamon croutons with dry bread for a good cheap eat.
At the beginning of the Pantry Challenge, I cleaned out the freezers and inventoried what we had. That amounted to quite a few heels from sandwich bread. Those are generally the last pieces to be eaten around here. I typically make them into bread crumbs or regular croutons or even Garlic Cheese Croutons.
This time, however, I decided to make Cinnamon Toast Croutons. They were just as easy to make as standard croutons, but they provided us with a crunchy, sweet treat. My husband thought they were weird, but that didn’t stop him from coming back into the kitchen every few minutes or so for another handful.
He thought I should use fresh white bread. Then they’d be “over the top”, said he.
They also wouldn’t have as much nutrition as whole wheat bread or as much of a frugal aspect as using up dry bread. Save the fresh bread for a yummy sandwich. You can tell who’s the good cop around here, can’t you?
This recipe is a great way to use up bread that is too dry for a sandwich or the heels if your family is lukewarm to eating them. FishBoy13 probably ate what his father didn’t get to first. He suggested eating them with milk, like cereal. We haven’t tried that yet. If you do, let us know.
Can you use dry bread in croutons?
Making homemade croutons is a great way to use bread that’s no longer great for fresh eating. Or if a loaf of homebaked bread doesn’t turn out as light and fluffy as you’d hoped, morph it into croutons! Waste not, want not.
I like to make a big batch and then keep them in a airtight container.
Ingredients for these sweet cinnamon croutons
- Bread – Use up day old bread and cube it up.
- Vegetable Oil
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
How to make these sweet croutons
You can watch this video on how to make homemade croutons here.
What do I serve these cinnamon croutons with?
You can try and serve these over milk. Or snack on them on their own. These would also be a great garnish to serve alongside a butternut squash soup.
More crouton recipes to try:
Looking for a few easy recipes for homemade croutons? Check out these yummy recipes:
Tools I use to make this recipe EASY:
If you prepare this recipe, be sure to take a picture and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!
Cinnamon Toast Croutons
Ingredients
- 8 cup bread cubes
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes and oil. Toss to coat.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.
- Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons (or more, if desired) of the sugar mixture over the bread cubes. Toss to distribute evenly.
- Toast the bread cubes in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until crisp. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar if desired.
- Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
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gina says
These sounds like a terrific treat! Might be fun to mix them up with pretzels, nuts, for a cinnamon toast snack mix.
Love this idea. Thanks for posting!
Jessica Fisher says
Great ideas. Might work with popcorn and dried fruit, too.
Ally says
Eating this with milk sounds like something I used to eat as a kid! Have you ever heard of graveyard stew?
The recipes I see online use salt and pepper, but here’s how we always made it when I was a kid:
Toast two slices of bread and tear it up into bite-sized pieces, cover it with heated milk and then add cinnamon and sugar. The toast gets all soggy and, while it sounds strange, it was still something I loved and think of with fond memories. I’m not sure where this came from
Using these croutons to make it would basically just simplify the process and also make for a yummy snack when you eat them by themselves. 🙂
Jessica Fisher says
In the old days, I think they called it milk toast. I’ve seen it in movies.
teresa says
In the old days (when I was a little girl – ha) my mom would sometime fix this as a light meal for me or my siblings when we were under the weather. She called it milk toast.
The Frugal Flirter says
Such an original way to use up bread – I’m going to give this a try, I always end up throwing away the end slices on loaves of bread, so it will be great to have something to use them up with, so thanks for the recipe! FF xx