Cucumber sandwiches for commoners

Flashback! Real high tea spread from Harrods- February 2009.

Pinkies up, husband!



We had a tea party at work on Friday to celebrate the royal wedding- it was SO much fun! We have a stash of real china tea cups and pots from when the nuns ran the college. Apparently tea was important because there is a closet in the board room with at least 100 different cups.

Everyone contributed a little something. One of my staff members brought in her great aunt's silver tea service, the associate registrar brought in decorations (we had a wall of Big Ben and Double Decker bus cut outs), the director of admissions bought some whipped cream fruit turnovers (yum!), and others brought biscuits and digestives.

We also played musical trivia and I won a pair of socks that say England on them! Awesome. Better than the woman who won the already burned candle. HA!

I decided to get real serious about this tea party business and made cucumber sandwiches. Survey says?

Strangely delicious! I'm telling you- they are tasty! The husband snatched at least 3. Fresh and crunchy- these are easy tea party fare.


Start by slicing up an English cucumber. Those are the seedless ones wrapped up in plastic. Slice them pretty thin- tea sandwiches are supposed to be dainty.

Buy some good quality white bread. In hindsight I should have gotten a regular loaf. My sandwiches were a bit...oblong...due to the homestyle loaf. Cut off the crusts, obviously.

This is how thick the bread slices are pre-rolling.

This takes the tea sandwiches to a more authentic place, but I guess you could skip this step (if you're a cheater). Bust out the rolling pin and roll those slices until they are good and mashed down. The thinner the better. I would have rolled a bit more but the bread started to tear.

Slather on some cream cheese. Use the full fat kind. These sandwiches are so smaller they are practically calorie-free. Bonus!? The cream cheese seals the bread and keeps the sandwiches from getting soggy. I made these the night before and they were still good to go the next day at noon.

Layer on some cucumber slices.

Top with the other slice of cream cheesed bread. Mash it down with your hand.

Slice.

Stack.

From this angle, you can see why I call these cucumber sandwiches for commoners. I was a little too lazy to really get after those crusts. Plus, the bread was oval shaped and I would have lost a lot to make prettier treats.

They must have tasted pretty good, though. Came home with a clean plate!