Tea Sandwiches

Tea sandwiches have always seemed inexplicably sophisticated to me. All you have to do is just pair a couple ingredients with ordinary white bread and you have delicate finger sandwiches. Instead of using two slices of bread, I decided to leave these sandwiches open-faced, making for an even more beautiful spread. The combination of ingredients are endless, but these are just some of my favorites. Simply use good quality butter and the rest is simple.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of sliced white bread
• 1 english cucumber
• several slices of prosciutto
• 1 bunch of watercress
• 6 eggs
• 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
• sea or kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 stick of good quality salted butter, softened at room temperature

To make the egg salad, bring a pot of water to a boil and carefully slip the eggs into the water. Boil for 10 minutes. Rinse under cold water and peel.

Finely dice the hard boiled eggs and fold in the mayonnaise. Lightly salt and pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Spoon the egg salad over a slice of bread and cut the crusts off. Cut on a diagonal, and top with a small bundle of watercress.

For cucumber sandwiches, thinly slice the cucumber. Butter a slice of bread.

Create a shingle effect by laying each cucumber in rows, slightly overlapped.

Cut the crusts off and slice at a diagonal.

The prosciutto and butter sandwich is simple. Just spread a thin layer of butter and place a thin layer of prosciutto over the butter. Again, cut the crusts off.

Serve them mixed and matched on tea saucers . . .

And enjoy with piping hot tea!

(images by HonestlyYUM)