Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

ingredients

  • 4 oz Cream Cheese at room temperature
  • 2 Tablespoons Italian Salad Dressing
  • 18 pieces of extra-thin bread or tea sandwich bread (see note)
  • 1 English Cucumber
  • Black Pepper

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and Italian dressing until combined. You can do this with a whisk, or an electric mixer.
  2. Prepare the bread by cutting off crusts if you are not using tea sandwich bread. (see notes below). You want the bread to be in about 3 inch squares.
  3. Slice the English cucumber into very thin slices. I like to use the slices from the middle of the cucumber because they are a little larger. You will not need the entire cucumber for the sandwiches.
  4. Spread the cream cheese mixture on each slice of the bread, then top with a cucumber slice.
  5. Arrange the sandwiches on a platter and sprinkle a little black pepper on top of each of the cucumbers.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Tea Sandwich Bread is usually a type of rye or pumpernickel bread that is already sliced very thin and each slice is about 3 inches square. If you cannot find tea sandwich bread, look for extra-thin sliced bread in white or wheat. Pepperidge Farm makes extra-thin sliced bread.

I have also made these with gluten-free bread from Trader Joes and it worked very well.

You can substitute regular cucumbers for English Cucumbers, but if you substitute, I recommend peeling the regular cucumbers because the skin is tougher and not delicate enough for these sandwiches.

Cucumbers have a lot of water, so to keep the sandwiches from getting soggy, make sure the bread is covered with the cream cheese mixture to make a barrier between the cucumber and the bread. Do not make cucumber sandwiches the night before.

To make these dairy-free, you can substitute hummus for the cream cheese.