Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

The running of the 139th Kentucky Derby is upon us, and just because we won’t be making the trek to Churchill Downs, there’s no reason we can’t adorn our heads with fabulous hats and stuff our bellies with cucumber tea sandwiches and mint juleps.

Enter, cucumber tea sandwich and mint julep recipes!

Besides Steak-Ums and boxed macaroni and cheese, nothing screams nostalgic foods of my childhood like cucumber sandwiches.  I loved them!  I don’t know how one little girl could be so obsessed with cucumber sandwiches, but man, I was, and one bite of these and I was back about 20 years.

If you’re planning on making them all pretty with a biscuit cutter or other such device, I recommend freezing the bread for ease of slicing.  The amount of bread you use will depend on how high you want to pile the cream cheese mixture… I wanted a lot 🙂

Onion juice enhances the flavor of the mixture immensely, and the amount you add is entirely up to you, I used about 1 tablespoon.

If you find yourself eating about four sandwiches all on your own, don’t say I didn’t warn you about their additive power.  Maybe one day you’ll get nostalgic about them too!

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated

1 small yellow onion, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Sriracha, or other hot sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced paper thin

thin white bread

Directions:

Wrap onions in cheese cloth and squeeze juices into the bowl of food processor.  Discard onions.

Add cream cheese, grated cucumber, mayonnaise, lemon zest and juice, Sriracha, salt and pepper to food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Fold in dill.  Cover mixture and refrigerate until ready to use.

Spread bread with cream cheese mixture, top with cucumber slices, top with another slice of bread, remove crusts and quarter.  Serve immediately.