Cinnamon Toast with Ricotta and Strawberries
A simple and vibrant five-ingredient recipe that kids can make (for mom!). Features fresh berries, creamy cheese and crispy cinnamon toast.
Today, and over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to inspire you with a couple of five-ingredient recipes. They can work for breakfast, lunch or snack, because meals are more flexible these days at home.
Since kids have stopped going to school, my most frequent request from parents is ‘What are some simple lunch ideas for kids?” I get it. They roam the kitchen like a pack of wild animals, looking for handouts.
So I’ve also simplified these recipes for the kiddos, because self-sufficiency is important. Read on for lunch ideas and a simple cinnamon toast recipe anyone can make.
Simple Lunch Ideas
In the Simple Bites kitchen, I’m feeding a famished teen, tween and an eight-year-old. Yes, I wrote the post 42 simple lunch ideas kids can make and I’m still looking for new ideas.
There are heaps of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, frittatas and plates of cheesy nachos. We toss together the occasional power bowl and many, many smoothies. We stock up on affordable, healthful snacks and try to keep a bowl of apples on the table.
But most of our lunches are built around bread, a simple homemade sandwich loaf or a rustic miche from the local French bakery. These sammy’s might be a ham and egg breakfast sandwich or more of an open-faced cheese toastie.
Lately we’ve been on a bit of a cinnamon toast kick. Read on!
Cinnamon Toast with Ricotta and Strawberries
It was mid-morning one day last week (days have no meaning) and we had a tray of cinnamon toast in the oven. I pulled out a half-finished jar of soft ricotta cheese from the fridge and stirred in a little of the cinnamon sugar.
Ricotta-cinnamon toast was born, then and there. Not long after, it was topped with sliced strawberries and became an instant favourite new snack.
This is definitely an easy treat kids can make themselves. Let them customize the fruit on top and get creative with banana, blueberries, peaches and more.
I don’t have to tell you how perfect this cinnamon toast would be for Mother’s Day morning. Serve it with the ricotta on the side and a bowl of berries, or dressed it up, as pictured.
If you’ve got any edible spring flowers in the yard, add a few on top for decoration. I love violets, forsythia, wild roses or strawberry blooms.
Cinnamon Toast with Ricotta and Strawberries
Ingredients
- 4 large slices crusty bread
- 4 teaspoons salted butter
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar see Notes
- 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup sliced strawberries about 8 large
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to Broil. Place the toast on a baking sheet.
- Toast the bread under the broiler for about 90 seconds per side OR until the toast is golden brown. Keep watch the whole time to make sure it does not burn. Ovens will vary.
- Remove the pan and butter the toast with 1 teaspoon of butter per slice.
- Sprinkle the toast generously with cinnamon sugar (about 2 teaspoons per slice). Return to oven for 1 minute to broil the sugar. The kitchen will smell delicious and the cinnamon sugar will be lovely and caramelized. Cool the toast slightly.
- Mix 2 teaspoons of cinnamon sugar with the ricotta and stir to combine. Divide the ricotta among the toasts and spread to cover.
- Arange the sliced strawberries on top of the ricotta toasts. Sprinkle with a little remaining cinnamon sugar. Place on plates and serve.
Delicious!! Totally buying some ricotta for this…! Do you make your own ricotta? That’s something I never have on hand…
Sarah, I do once in a while! It’s ever so much better. But for simplicity and this dish, I say buy some.
Oh my goodness these are the prettiest little breakfast toasts ever! I can’t wait for strawberry season. Beautiful!
Kelly you and me both. Anytime now, right? 😉
what a wonderful toast, only a few ingredients but very artfully combined, ricotta is a great choice, thank you!
Thanks for stopping by, Sabrina.
This sounds amazing. We’re huge cinnamon toast fans and the ricotta sounds so good. I’ll have to make sure the ingredients are in house for this weekend. 😉
Yay! I hope you liked it, Breanne.
Tried this for breakfast this morning and we really enjoyed it. My bread was a little weird because I used my first-ever keto loaf that I didn’t have the right size pan for baking it. Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you!
Too many calories!
Hi Phyll, You’re right! We used a plugin to calculate the nutrition facts, and the bread portion was overstated. I’ve recalculated it, but the bread is still the big calorie hog with over 2/3 of the total for 2 large slices of crusty bread. Cheers.