Cucumber Sandwiches

This is another delightful treat Molly turned me onto. I always thought cucumber sandwiches sounded kind of weird but let me tell ya, they're goo-ood. The various parts of this recipe should be made no more than 1-2 hours ahead of serving time. Do not assemble the sandwiches until right before you serve them. You do need to use an English cucumber because they have fewer seeds and are less watery.

Cucumber Sandwiches

1 loaf square white bread (not the rounded top kind and not super cheap, you don't want it to fall apart)

1 English cucumber (these are the kind that are wrapped in plastic wrap)

1 lemon

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Dill

8oz cream cheese, softened

Cut crusts off bread and cut each slice into 4 pieces. (Or you can use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and cut circles or flowers out of the bread and get about 3 per slice of bread.) Place in a zip-top bag so they don't dry out while you finish the rest.

Finely chop 5 slices of cucumber and set aside. Thinly slice* the rest of the cucumber and place in medium bowl. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over cucumber slices. Add 1/2 tsp dill and salt & pepper to taste. Stir gently then put aside to marinate for about 1 hour.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the reserved (finely chopped) cucumber.

Spread cream cheese mixture onto one side of each slice of bread. Top with one slice of cucumber.

These are best served immediately but if you aren't serving immediately, cover sandwiches with a wet paper towel (get paper towel completely wet then ring all the water out) and plastic wrap so they don't dry out.

If you do the round cut outs this will make about 50 sandwiches.

*If you have a mandolin it makes slicing these a breeze and keeps them all uniform in size - fabulous!