Easy Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

4.62 from 83 votes

Dainty and delicious cucumber finger sandwiches with chive butter.

Prep Time8

Total Time8

Course: Afternoon Tea

Cuisine: American

Servings: tea sandwiches

Author: Jee Choe

Make chive butter by mixing chopped chives and butter.
Set aside.
Slice cucumber. Blot cucumber slices with paper towels.
The cucumber needs to be cut into two different thicknesses. Use a mandoline slicer to cut cucumber into 2 sizes, 4 slices at 1/8" and 4 slices at the thinnest setting so that it's paper thin. After slicing the cucumbers, place them flat on paper towels and blot to make sure they're dry.
Find a round cookie cutter that's the same size as the sliced cucumber.
Cut circles out of the bread using the cookie cutter.
Avoid cutting the crust. Cut 8 bread circles.
Assemble tea sandwiches.
Spread a thin layer of chive butter on the top side of the bread, add a slice of the 1/8" cucumber, then top with a piece of bread that buttered on the side that faces the cucumber. Next, loosely fold the thin cucumber slice in half and skewer it in place with a cocktail fork.

To make 4 cucumber tea sandwiches, you'll need 4 cucumber slices, 4 paper thin cucumber slices, and 8 bread circles.
The circumference of your cucumber will decide how big your tea sandwiches will be. I use a round cookie cutter set so can I try several sizes to see which one fits the cucumber best. The cookie cutter doesn't need to be exactly the size of the cucumber, but try to find the closest match.
To prevent the bread from getting soggy, make sure to pat the cucumber slices dry and butter each side the cucumber touches the bread.
Chive butter should be made with soften butter. It makes it easy to mix in the chives and to spread it on the bread.
Kitchen scissors makes it easy to cut the fresh chives into little tiny bits.
You can use whatever kind of bread you like, but make sure it is pillowy soft which contrasts nicely with the crunch from the cucumber.
The worst cucumber sandwiches are slimy ones. You can prevent this by placing the sliced cucumbers on paper towels and blotting them to get them dry.
Cut frozen bread if you want cleaner cuts on your tea sandwiches.