An easy Valentine's Day breakfast comes down to four things on one tray: a warm pastry each, something red and fresh, a little protein, and a hot drink. Frozen croissants bake at 425°F in 5 to 7 minutes and need 5 minutes to rest, and a slice of croissant loaf toasts straight from the freezer in 90 to 120 seconds, so once the oven is hot, the whole breakfast is on the tray in 10 to 12 minutes.
Below: what to serve, a step-by-step breakfast in bed plan, how to build a tray that makes it up the stairs, sweet and savory ideas, a version for the kids, and how to send breakfast when you are not together on February 14.
What to serve for a Valentine's Day breakfast
You do not need thirty recipes. Pick something from each of these four, and the morning is set:
- A warm pastry each. A butter croissant for you, a chocolate or Nutella croissant for them. It is the part that smells like a Paris bakery when the oven door opens.
- Something red. Strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds or a bowl of blood orange segments. It is the color that says Valentine's Day without a single heart-shaped mold.
- A little protein. Soft scrambled eggs, a few slices of ham, or yogurt with granola. It turns a plate of pastries into a meal.
- A hot drink, made the way they like it. Café au lait, a cappuccino, hot chocolate, or a mimosa if it is a late, slow morning.
Our croissants are made by the Fresh Baguette bakery team and shipped frozen from our kitchen in Germantown, Maryland, so the dough, the folding and the proofing are already done. You only bake them. That is what keeps this breakfast quiet: no flour on the counter, no alarm set for 5 a.m. You can see every flavor side by side in our frozen croissants collection.
A breakfast in bed plan for two
This is the order that gets everything to the tray warm at the same time, with one oven, one pan and a toaster. Every bake time below comes from the instructions on our product pages.
| Step | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turn the oven on to 425°F. Start the coffee. Rinse and slice the strawberries. | While the oven heats |
| 2 | Once the oven reads 425°F: croissants straight from the freezer, packaging off, on a baking sheet on the middle rack. | 5 to 7 min |
| 3 | Croissants out. Let them rest at least 5 minutes. Scramble the eggs over low heat while they wait. | 5 min |
| 4 | Toast a slice or two of croissant loaf from frozen. Watch it: the crumb browns fast. | 90 to 120 sec |
| 5 | Pour the drinks last, load the tray, and go. | 1 min |
The 5-minute rest is not optional. A croissant straight from the oven is still setting inside, and a filled one like the Nutella croissant is very hot in the middle. Those 5 minutes are exactly the time it takes to cook soft eggs, so nothing waits on anything else.
Want a baguette on the tray too?
A half baguette bakes hotter and goes in first: 450°F, directly on the middle rack without a baking sheet, 6 to 10 minutes, then 5 to 10 minutes of rest. Take it out, turn the oven down to 425°F and wait until it reads 425°F before the croissants go in. The baguette rests while they bake. Split it lengthwise, add salted butter and jam, and you have a French tartine.
Croissants for a breakfast in bed
Butter, chocolate, almond and Nutella croissants, picked pack by pack for your box. They bake straight from the freezer at 425°F in 5 to 7 minutes.
Shop frozen croissantsHow to build a breakfast in bed tray that makes it up the stairs
The food is the easy part. What ruins breakfast in bed is a tray that is too full, too wet, or too hot to carry. A few things help:
- Choose food that does not spill. Croissants, toast, berries and scrambled eggs travel well. Soup-like oatmeal, runny syrup and full glasses of juice do not. If you want juice, pour small glasses.
- Fill mugs two-thirds full. A full mug spills on the first step. Bring the coffee pot if they will want a second cup.
- Put a napkin under the plate. It stops the plate from sliding when you set the tray down on the bed.
- Serve the jam in a ramekin, not the jar. It looks generous, and a spoon in a jar tips over.
- Leave room. A plate, two mugs and a bowl of fruit. Anything more goes on the nightstand.
- Add something that is not food. A card, a single flower in a glass, or a note under the napkin. That is the part they remember.
Sweet Valentine's Day breakfast ideas
Nutella croissants with strawberries
Our Nutella croissant is made with striped cocoa dough, hand-filled with Nutella and topped with crunchy hazelnuts. Serve it warm with halved strawberries and a spoon of lightly sweetened whipped cream on the side. No extra chocolate needed: the filling does the work.
Chocolate croissants and raspberries
Our chocolate croissant is the French pain au chocolat, with two batons of dark chocolate folded into the layers, so you get a real snap of chocolate. Raspberries next to it cut through the richness. This is the pairing for someone who likes dark chocolate more than sweet things.
Heart-shaped croissant toast with butter and jam
Toast a wide slice of our Butter Croissant Loaf from frozen, 90 to 120 seconds. Let it cool for a minute so it firms up, then press a heart-shaped cookie cutter into the center. Spread the heart with salted butter and our wild blackberry jam, and keep the outside piece for yourself. The croissant loaf is croissant dough baked as a loaf and wide sliced, so it has the buttery taste of a croissant in a shape you can cut. If you would rather make croissant French toast with it, the same slices work; keep it for a morning when you have more time at the stove.
Chocolate-dipped strawberries, made the night before
Melt about 4 ounces of dark chocolate in a bowl in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each. Dip dry strawberries halfway, set them on parchment paper and refrigerate overnight. In the morning they are set, cold and ready to go straight onto the tray.
The Nutella croissant
Striped cocoa dough, hand-filled with Nutella, topped with hazelnuts. 5 to 7 minutes at 425°F, then 5 minutes of rest.
See the Nutella croissantSavory Valentine's breakfast ideas
Not everyone wants sugar first thing. These are just as quick:
- Soft scrambled eggs and a butter croissant. Eggs cooked low and slow in butter, with chives, next to a plain croissant. Simple, and very French. Our butter croissant is made with thin layers of real butter that shatter into a golden, honeycomb crumb.
- Bacon and eggs. Bacon in a skillet keeps the oven free for the pastries, and it is ready by the time the eggs are.
- A croissant with ham and cheese. Let the croissant rest its 5 minutes, slice it with a serrated knife, and tuck in a slice of ham and a slice of Gruyère.
- Smoked salmon on toast. Toasted bread, cream cheese, smoked salmon, a few capers and a squeeze of lemon. Slice it into bite-size pieces so it eats easily in bed.
- A tartine. Baguette split lengthwise with salted butter, the way it is eaten in France with a bowl of café au lait.
A Valentine's Day breakfast with kids
With kids, Valentine's Day breakfast is less about breakfast in bed and more about a fun table. Keep it sweet and easy to hold:
- Strawberry hearts. Halve a strawberry lengthwise and notch a V into the top of each half. It turns into a heart, and kids can help.
- Half a croissant each. Chocolate and Nutella croissants are the ones kids reach for. Halving them lets everyone taste two flavors.
- Pink yogurt. Stir a spoon of jam or a few mashed raspberries into plain yogurt.
- Hot chocolate with whipped cream, and a heart drawn on top with cocoa powder.
Let the pastries cool for at least 5 minutes before kids pick them up. The chocolate and Nutella fillings stay hot longer than the outside. Planning ahead for May? Here are Mother's Day breakfast ideas.
How many croissants do you need?
We plan on about two pastries per person when they are the main event, and one per person when there are eggs and fruit on the tray. Our packs come in fixed sizes:
| Pastry | Per pack | Bake |
|---|---|---|
| Butter croissant | 3 | 425°F, 5 to 7 min |
| Chocolate croissant | 3 | 425°F, 5 to 7 min |
| Nutella croissant | 2 | 425°F, 5 to 7 min |
| Almond croissant | 2 | 425°F, 5 to 7 min |
| Butter Croissant Loaf (wide sliced) | 1 loaf | Toaster, 90 to 120 sec |
For two people, one pack of butter croissants and one pack of Nutella croissants gives you five pastries: two each and one to share. For a family of four, add a pack of chocolate croissants.
A box holds 4 to 12 packs (boxes from $89), so you will have more than one morning's worth. That works in your favor. In their sealed packaging, our breads and pastries keep in the freezer for up to 6 months, according to our FAQ, which means you can order ahead and keep the Valentine's breakfast in the freezer until the morning comes.
Sending a Valentine's breakfast when you are apart
Long distance, a work trip, or a Valentine who lives in another city: breakfast can still be your gift. Our bakery gift card is a $120 credit that lets the person you love build their own box of breads, croissants and baked goods. It reaches them by email on the date you choose, and it carries your personal message, so it can arrive on February 14 itself. You can see all our gifting options on our bakery gift boxes page.
Shipping is free on every order. We deliver to the Eastern US: the East Coast, plus Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee and part of Illinois. The recipient can check their zip code on our site before building the box.
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Valentine's Day breakfast questions
How do you make a romantic breakfast in bed?
Keep it simple and warm: a tray, a plate, two mugs filled two-thirds full, and food that does not spill: warm croissants, berries, soft scrambled eggs. Bake the croissants at 425°F for 5 to 7 minutes, cook the eggs while they rest 5 minutes, and pour the drinks last. Add a card or a flower and you are done.
How do you make a heart-shaped breakfast?
The easiest way is with a heart-shaped cookie cutter on toast: press the cutter into a toasted slice of croissant loaf and spread it with butter and jam. Strawberries halved with a V notched at the top look like hearts too, and you can pour pancake batter into a heart-shaped mold if you have one.
What is an easy Valentine's Day breakfast for two?
Two warm croissants each, a bowl of strawberries, scrambled eggs and coffee. From frozen, the croissants take 5 to 7 minutes at 425°F plus 5 minutes of rest, so everything is ready not long after the oven heats.
Can you make a Valentine's Day breakfast ahead?
Yes. Rinse and cut the fruit and dip strawberries in chocolate the night before, and set the tray. Croissants that bake from frozen need nothing the night before: they go straight from the freezer to the oven in the morning. If you want a hot dish you assemble in advance, an overnight croissant casserole soaks in the fridge and bakes in the morning.