Cantastic! French-Style Croutons
Take your salads up about eight notches with this incredible and easy recipe for French-style croutons. Also:
- Use up oft-wasted bacon grease
- Use up day-old bread, if you have it around
- With a little packaging, turn these leftovers into hostess gifts, new-neighbor gifts, or check-out-this-amazing-stuff-I-made gifts.
Materials and tools:
- Cast iron skillet
- Large spoon or spatula
- Quart jars
Cantastic! French-Style Croutons
Author:
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf of hefty French or sourdough bread
- ½ cup bacon fat
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F.
- With a sharp knife, carefully slice the bread into ½ inch cubes, trimming off most of the crust.
- Heat the bacon fat, salt and garlic powder in a cast iron skillet on medium low. Stir to mix the salt and garlic powder evenly throughout. Watch carefully and don’t allow it to smoke.
- Pour the bread cubes all at once into the warm fat, then immediately stir with a large spoon or spatula, turning the cubes over and over to give every surface a chance to soak up some of the bacon fat and salt.
- Heat the cubes slowly on top of the stove for five or ten minutes, stirring frequently.
- Place the entire skillet with the heated cubes, into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, stir, check the bottoms of the cubes. If not beginning to brown, then bake for another 10 or 15 minutes and check again.
- Remove from oven when the cubes are turning golden brown. Allow to cool thoroughly.
- Try one! …I know, right?
To turn these tasty nibbles into unforgettable gifts:
- Visit evermine.com to put your own words or pictures on one of our templates–or upload your own design, if you have one. Pictured here is the Neue Retro style in the tuxedo color.
- When your labels have arrived, tumble your lardons into a quart jar, seal it and place your labels onto the jar sides and lid.
- Your lardons have turned into a memorable and charming gift!
Jeanne and her husband David launched My Own Labels in January of 2000. It was a spin-off of their successful graphic design firm, plus it allowed Jeanne to incorporate her love of baking, making, sewing and creating. Today David and Jeanne continue to be the heart of the operation both creatively and practically.