Radish Rose Tea Sandwiches

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Bite-sized, open-faced, and decorated with a radish rose, these gorgeous tea sandwiches are perfect for tea time and for bridal and baby showers.

CONTENTS

Recipe Highlights

These stunning tea sandwiches are made by forming sliced radishes into a rose shape. I’m not going to lie, these sandwiches are a bit of a hassle to make since the radish roses take some time. But the effort is worth it since they’ll look gorgeous and will impress your guests.
Tea sandwiches, also called finger sandwiches, can be eaten in 2-3 bites and are the first course of an afternoon tea. The crusts of the bread are cut off, giving them a dainty look.
Made with just four ingredients, these sandwiches make a great vegetarian option for tea time or for small bites for a baby or bridal shower.

RELATED: Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Ingredient Notes

Ingredients to make a radish tea sandwich.

White bread
Fluffy white bread works best but you can use any kind of bread you like.
Red radishes
Try to find red radishes that are on the bigger side. The one that are too small are hard to cut and shape into roses.
Butter
Use creamy, rich butter.
Sea salt
My favorite salt makes everything taste better.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Four photo collate showing steps to make a radish tea sandwich.

For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to see the recipe.

Slice radishes and blot them dry.
Use a mandoline slicer to slice the radishes since it’s difficult to get even, thin slices with a knife.
Cut bread into circles using a round cookie cutter.
Avoid cutting the crust.
Assemble tea sandwiches.
To assemble the base of the sandwich, butter a bread circle, top with a radish slice, spread butter on the top of the radish, then bread, then butter again. The top layer of bread is where the radish rose will sit, so I use a generous portion of butter.

Four photo collage showing steps to make a radish rose tea sandwich.

Make radish roses.
Cut radish slices in half and working with 4 half circles at at time, curl them to form the rose on top of the tea sandwiches.

Expert Tips

To make 4 tea sandwiches, you’ll need 28 radish slices (7 slices for each rose), and 8 bread circles.
7 radish slices in total are used to make 1 tea sandwich. 1 radish slice for the sandwich and 6 slices to make the radish rose.
Work the radishes 4 half circles at a time. Don’t work with all 12 half circles to form the rose since it’s too hard to work with that many at once. This part is the hardest. The radish slices are tiny, so they’re hard to work with and they’ll keep wanting to unroll.
You can use any size cookie cutter but I like to pick one that can cut out two circles from a slice of bread. I used a 2″ round cookie cutter for this recipe.
Softened butter will make it easier to spread the butter onto the bread circles without tearing the bread.
Radish roses are frustrating to make so make sure you’re not in a rush since you’ll need a lot of patience.
Freeze bread then cut using a cookie cutter. It cuts more neatly than room temperature bread.
A mandoline slicer is key to making all the radish slices the same. Use the food holder thingy that comes with the mandoline so you don’t slice up your hand when you cut.
Radishes are pretty juicy so blot them dry by laying them out on paper towels. Damp radishes will make the bread soggy, which is a big no-no with tea sandwiches.
The butter adds flavor to the sandwiches and also creates a barrier between the bread and radish so the bread doesn’t get soggy. It also holds the radish rose in place on top of the sandwich.

Questions You May Have

What kind of tea pairs best with these tea sandwiches?

Radish tea sandwiches are mild flavored so they would pair well with any kind of tea. I recommend a green tea like genmaicha or a black tea like English breakfast tea or Earl Grey.

Can I make these ahead of time?

Make the sandwiches the night before and cover with wax paper then a damp paper towel and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will keep the sandwiches from drying out.

I don’t want to make the radish rose. How can I make an easier version?

Make the sandwiches double stacked! Assemble from the bottom up: Bread, butter, radish slice, butter, bread, butter, radish slice, butter, then bread. You’ll need an extra bread circle for each tea sandwich.

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