Welcome to #PartyWeek! here at Jason’s Cooking! Every day this week, we will feature recipes for appetizers and snacks that are a great addition to your party menu. Whether you’re hosting a tailgate, shower, or book club these recipes are a classy twist on some southern party food staples.
I am sad to say that the first time I’d ever had a cucumber sandwich was at my friends’ baby shower this summer. I am talking specifically about the little finger food cucumber sandwiches that are served at baby showers throughout the south and not the delicious Bacon Cucumber Sandwich that is my favorite sandwich in all the land. After enjoying this tasty treat for the first time, I decided to find reasons to make them more and more often and so they seemed perfect for #PartyWeek!
My cucumber sandwich is a bit of a twist on the traditional white-bread-with-the-crust-cut-off sandwiches you know and love. The bread is upgraded, the cream cheese is vaguely reminiscent of ranch dressing, and they’re served open-faced to keep them from being too bready. They’re what I like to call Charleston Southern – but more on that tomorrow.
- 12 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
- 1 Tbs Milk
- 1 tsp Dried Dill
- 1 tsp Dried Parsley
- ½ tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- 2 Baguettes
- 2 Cucumbers
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Slice the baguettes into ½ inch slices, place the slices on a large sheet pan and toast them in the preheated oven for 5 – 7 minutes until they just start to toast. Be careful not to dry them out completely.
- While your bread is toasting, beat together the cream cheese, milk, dill, parsley and pepper until smooth – I use my trusty KitchenAid for this part.
- Peel the cucumbers and slice them into ¼ in slices
- Spread some of the cream cheese mixture onto each piece of toast and top with a cucumber slice.
For easy and consistent slicing of the cucumbers, consider a Mandoline Slicer. I’m not a huge fan of kitchen gadgets but I do keep one of these in the cabinet.
You’ll want to assemble these sandwiches as close to service as possible to avoid soggy bread. You can, however, mix up the cheese, slice the bread, and slice the cucumbers the day before your event. Just store everything in separate containers in the refrigerator and then about an hour before service, toast the bread and assemble.
Cucumbers are 95% water so one 8 oz. cucumber counts as both a vegetable and one of your daily glasses of water.
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