Cucumber Watercress Sandwiches

Ingredient Notes

You can mix and match the ingredients for these cucumber watercress tea sandwiches, if desired, but here are the 7 basic ingredients I always use in mine. A full list of ingredients with their measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

• Cream cheese — You want to use brick-style cream cheese for this recipe, and it needs to be at room temperature so you can blend it more easily with the Boursin.
• Garlic and herb Boursin — This is a type of soft, Gournay-style cheese. I prefer using the garlic and herb flavor in these sandwiches, but you may experiment with their other flavors. If you can’t find Boursin cheese at your local grocery store, try using something like Laughing Cow or a flavored cream cheese.
• Fresh chives — Fresh herbs elevate this simple tea sandwich recipe, so don’t omit the chives!
• English cucumber — This variety of cucumber has very few seeds and is super crunchy, which is why I love using it in sandwiches.
• Radishes — Add a delicate peppery bite that cuts through the herbed cream cheese spread.
• Watercress — Watercress is a cruciferous vegetable that’s related to horseradish and mustard greens. It has a peppery flavor (similar to arugula) and is quite crisp. Remove the tough stems from the watercress when making these tea sandwiches!
• Sandwich bread — I like to use both pumpernickel and white sandwich bread to create a prettier sandwich platter, but you may use just one kind of bread.

Katie’s Tip: Tea sandwiches are meant to be served on thin slices of soft sandwich bread for easy eating. Avoid breads that are chewy or crusty, such as ciabatta or sourdough.

How to Cut Perfect Tea Sandwiches

Always cut off the crusts before adding the cream cheese and toppings. Then, you can either cut these sandwiches into triangles or into strips (called “fingers,” hence the name finger sandwiches!).

• To cut into triangles — Use a sharp serrated knife to cut the sandwiches in half diagonally.
• To cut into fingers — Use a sharp serrated knife to cut the rectangle of bread into 3 to 4 strips. Each strip should be roughly two fingers wide (I hold my hand up to the bread before cutting to gauge how many finger sandwiches I can get from one rectangle of bread before I begin slicing).

Katie’s Tip: Always use a serrated knife to cut your tea sandwiches! This prevents the edges of the bread from getting squished during slicing.

Make-Ahead Instructions

I don’t recommend making these watercress sandwiches too far in advance since the cucumber slices will make the bread soggy after a while. However, you can prepare elements of this recipe ahead of time:

• Cucumber and radish — Can be sliced and stored in separate airtight containers up to 1 day in advance.
• Herbed cream cheese spread — Can be mixed together up to 1 day in advance and stored airtight in the fridge.
• Sandwiches — Should be cut and assembled no more than 1 to 2 hours in advance. Store in airtight containers or wrap the servings platters tightly with plastic wrap to prevent the bread from drying out in the fridge.