How to cut strawberry hearts for 'I love you' cinnamon sugar toast on Valentine's Day

Start off Valentine's Day with a sweet, festive treat-turned-love note for breakfast.

Lifestyle blogger Erin Phraner developed this "no-recipe" recipe for cinnamon sugar Valentine's Day toast that is easy to make and customize according to your taste or whatever you have on-hand.

Check out the full recipe below and watch her two easy methods for cutting strawberries into hearts.

Cute and easy heart-shaped strawberry toast for Valentine's Day

For the first method, Phraner cuts the strawberries in half lengthwise, lays them flat and cuts a small v-shaped notch out of the top of each one where the stem would be.

For the second method, she carves around the natural curve of the halved strawberry and places it next to a similarly carved second half, fitting them together like puzzle pieces to make one bigger heart. Watch how she does it in the video below.

She also suggested topping the toast with alternative spreads like peanut butter in place of cinnamon-sugar, and using Nutella to pipe words instead of cream cheese.

Valentine's Day Cinnamon Sugar Toast

Ingredients
1 slice bread
1-2 tablespoons butter, softened
Large pinch of sugar
Cinnamon, to taste
Scoop of whipped cream cheese
1 strawberry

Directions

Toast your bread; let cool slightly. Meanwhile, mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until smooth. Put a scoop of whipped cream cheese into a resealable plastic bag; push to one side and snip corner to create a piping bag.

Cut your strawberry into a heart shape (see first video above, if needed).

Spread the cinnamon-sugar butter on the center of your toast; make sure the toast is warm but not hot (otherwise everything will melt). Use the cream cheese to pipe the letters L, V and E onto your toast. Add your strawberry-heart as the O in Love and you're done!

Recipe reprinted with permission courtesy of Erin Phraner.

This story was originally published on Feb. 7, 2023.