Tea Sandwiches for a Baby Shower #recipe @lucyburdette

Anita, Lisa, Lucy, Molly, Joyce, Yvonne--the crew!

LUCY BURDETTE: I can remember quite clearly fancy parties that my parents threw, particularly around the holidays. My mother would order long loaves of white bread, one dyed red or pink, one dyed green, and the third left white. She would have them sliced lengthwise instead of crosswise. And then she would construct three layers, red, white, and green, with two types of fillings, and cut them into finger sandwiches.

When I offered to throw a baby shower for our daughter, I thought finger sandwiches would be the way to go for a ladies' tea. But no food coloring this time, thank you very much! 

Joyce's mini-cheesecakes

Molly's mother-in-law provided the sweets, and I made three kinds of sandwiches and a big bowl of fruit salad. Of course we made too many of everything, so will be eating little triangles of sandwich for the rest of the week. 

Tonka watches over the gifts

The shower was a big hit – I don't think anyone enjoyed it more than Tonka!

 
Cucumber watercress sandwiches

1 16 ounce tub whipped cream cheese, softened
One half lemon, zested
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped finely
One large cucumber, finely sliced
One bunch watercress, washed, dried and separated from the stems
One loaf nice white or wheat bread

Mix the zest and the dill with the cream cheese and stir well. Taste to see if the seasonings suit. We did not feel the need for added salt or pepper. You could also add fresh chopped chives.

 

 
Wash the watercress, spin dry, and detach it from the stems. Set this aside. 




 

Wash one large Persian cucumber, cut off the ends, and slice this thinly. We used a mandolin, which made a tedious job super easy. We also decided to leave on the skin for the nice touch of green.

 

the sandwich brigade

Cover one side of each slice of bread with the cream cheese mixture. Press a layer of sliced cucumbers into one side and a layer of watercress into the other. 

 





Close the sandwich and cut into triangles, or whatever shape you prefer. We chose not to take the crusts off because of the funny shape of the bread.

 


Curried egg salad sandwiches

12 boiled eggs
One heaping teaspoon good curry powder
1 tablespoon amazing maple mustard
1/4 to 1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

Peel the eggs and mash them fairly finely with a pastry cutter. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, curry powder, and dill, and stir well. Taste for seasoning. Spread on good whole-grain bread, adding watercress or other delicate green if you wish. Cut into triangles.

I meant to have more photos of the whole table, along with our mini-ham biscuits, but I got caught up in hostess duties and fell behind. These sandwiches would be fun for any daytime celebration--graduations, weddings, anniversaries.... And hey these would be perfect to snack on while reading Krista's new book, THE DIVA SERVES HIGH TEA!

The seventh Key West mystery, KILLER TAKEOUT, is on bookshelves everywhere. What about yours?

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