Simple to Make Sweet Crisps from Baguettes

It is so simple to make these light and delicious sweet crisps from baguettes. Just butter the slices, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar and bake until crisp. That’s it! Put them in a box with a well-fitting lid, and savor the fruits of your labor for the next few days.

Day-old baguette is perfect – it crisps up fast!

If your baguette is a bit “stale”, hey, that’s even better! How come? Baguettes lose moisture and become dry fairly quickly. The slightly dried out texture of a day-old baguette is actually just perfect for this recipe,. It is still soft enough to slice without crumbling completely, but dry enough to crisp up quite fast.

Incidentally, if you don’t have a “baguette”, no worries- use any bread you have on hand! What a great way to use up bread that is past its prime. Naturally, this also qualifies this recipe as a legitimate “Leftover-Makeover” idea: an easy solution for what to do with “all that bread leftover from the party”.

These slices here are slightly sweet; if you wish to make savory crisps instead, do check out my easy-to-make Parmesan-Pepper Croutons. They are just as easy to make as these sweet crisps, and are extremely versatile. Serve them with a soup, or with your favorite toppings for delicious hors d’oeuvres. Maybe you would also like to try making my easy Tomato-Basil soup or Moroccan-style Lentil-vegetable soup.

Sweet Crisps….Rusk.. call it what you want!

Some call it sweet crisps, some call it Rusk.…. some call it something else entirely. It’s interesting that people from all parts of the world love this type of twice-baked bread. There are a multitude of local variations that typically begin with sliced bread (or even cake). Almost always, folks enjoy having it with tea or coffee, or as a light snack, all by itself. Just looking at them makes me crave a cup of tea/coffee, just so I can dunk them in it., and relish the slightly moistened, still crisp texture. Even the dunking requires one’s full attention. Soak it for just a few seconds too long in your hot beverage…. and it will disintegrate and disappear- sinking to the bottom, a soggy mess indeed! Of course, you would then simply fish it out with a spoon and eat it anyway! So what if it’s not crunchy any more?. Still tastes good!

Cinnamon and Sugar – A Sweet Pair Indeed

Cinnamon, called Dalchini (Daal-chin-ee; ‘d’ as the ‘th’ in ‘the’; Hindi, Marathi) is not considered a “sweet” spice in Indian cuisine. I use it quite regularly in many savory dishes – vegetables, curries, Dals, Biryani, etc., but never in a dessert.. For Indian desserts I generally use cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, and sometimes even cloves. After coming to the US, though, I quickly fell in love with the cinnamon-sugar combination: so often used in cakes, muffins, cookies, pies…Ohh, it is so good! The heady scent of cinnamon wafting through the house is rather intoxicating. It’s so hard having to wait for this “thing” to be done baking, and then waiting some more for it to “rest”, before one can attack it with gusto.

Health Benefits of Cinnamon

Like many spices, not only does cinnamon smell and taste wonderful, it also provides a range of health benefits. The chief component in its essential oil is cinnamaldehyde, which is known to have antibacterial and antifungal activity. Cinnamon is also a key component in many home remedies for boosting immunity and treating a wide variety of ailments: acne, cough/cold, high blood pressure, controlling blood sugar spikes, etc. I’m always delighted to learn about delicious food ingredients that also contribute to our well-being.

Don’t crowd the slices while baking

While baking these sweet crisps, don’t crowd the slices – place them in a single layer. This ensures good circulation of hot air, which leads to even crisping/browning of the slices. If your baking tray does not hold all the slices you’ve prepared, bake them in 2 batches.

Also, let the baked slices cool completely before you store them in a container with a well-fitting lid.. Just set them aside on the countertop for 20-30 min. This allows any residual moisture in the slices to escape fully, rather than getting trapped in the container. Even small amounts of moisture trapped in the container can make them lose their crispness. Even worse, the sugar and moisture can even make them moldy in a couple of days – what a waste that would be!

Special Diets

This simple recipe for making sweet crisps is vegetarian, soy-free (provided the baguette is soy-free) and nut-free. To make it vegan/dairy-free, replace the butter with coconut oil or another mild-tasting oil. I do not recommend using extra-virgin olive oil or other unsaturated oils, because unsaturated fats can get degraded in the intense heat of the oven, forming harmful products. That would be quite counter-productive, and certainly defeat the benefits of including these heart-healthy oils in your food.

So, pull out that day-old bread, and after just a few minutes of hands-on work let the oven do the rest. By the time you brew your tea/coffee, the sweet crisps will be ready for dunking!

Enjoy!