Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Elegant and tasty, cucumber tea sandwiches are flavored with cream cheese and dill. Perfect for afternoon tea, luncheon, book club or garden party. 
This is a repost from way back in 2013 when I first discovered Cucumber Tea Sandwiches. A friend made them for a Downton Abbey party, and I when I discovered that both my kids and book club absolutely loved them, I wrote it up for my blog.
Fast forward eight years and one of those school kids is now all grown up–and even got married during the pandemic! We’ll be doing a garden party to celebrate this summer so I’m testing food! Expect to see lots of party-worthy candidates make their way across these “pages” this summer!
Step by Step Directions
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches are super easy! To start, you cut cucumber into thin slices (I used a mandolin and couldn’t decide if I preferred 1/8” or 1/4“). 
Whip together cream cheese, salt, garlic and dill until smooth.
Remove crusts from bread. (Save crusts for breadcrumbs or compost.) 
Spread bread with cream cheese, layer with cucumber slices, then top with second piece of bread also spread with cream cheese. 
Cut the sandwiches into four, roughly equal quarters. 
Decorate with dill and serve. 
Or hide in the ‘fridge until needed. Did I mention that my husband ate 16 Cucumber, Dill & Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches when left alone with them? (Shhh)
Notes and Tips
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More years than not, cucumbers do pretty poorly on EWG’s list of fruits and veggies with the most pesticide residue. So, this is an ingredient I try to find organic.
English cucumbers, which many Cucumber Tea Sandwich recipes call for, are slimmer, with less pronounced seeds. While they are lovely in this, a regular cucumber can work fine too. Just look for one that isn’t too “fat.” 
I think that salt is a big flavor enhancer for these sandwiches. I started out sprinkling it on each sandwich but forgot so many times, I just added it to the cream cheese.
I save the leftover crusts for homemade breadcrumbs. In selecting my bread, I look for large, square bread slices. This makes for nice even quarters when you cut them smaller.
I use a mandolin to cut my cucumber slices. It is easy and fast and less scary now that most come packaged with “safety gloves.”
Where Can I Serve These?
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches make a simple elegant dish that is perfect for warmer weather. At home for any casual, classy event, I would serve these “finger sandwiches” at a garden party, bridal shower, or ladies tea. Of course, since my kids were excited to add them to school lunch and my husband chowed down just because, I guess they’re probably at home almost anywhere!
Elegant and tasty, cucumber tea sandwiches are flavored with cream cheese and dill. Perfect for afternoon tea, a shower, book club or a garden party. Cut cucumber into thin slices (I couldn’t decide if I preferred 1/8” or 1/4“) Whip together cream cheese, salt, garlic and dill until smooth. Remove crusts from bread. (Save crusts for breadcrumbs or compost.) Spread bread with cream cheese mixture, layer with cucumber slices, then top with second piece of bread also spread with cream cheese. Cut into four, roughly square quarters. Decorate with dill and serve. Nutrition data accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 66Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 152mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g
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So great that you made these for your book club! I thought Lisa did a fabulous job for our party 🙂 My mom used to always take thin slices of rye bread and top them with cream cheese, cucumber slices, and then sprinkle on a coarse seasoned salt like Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt and we’d live on these in the summer time!
They had a package of rye that would have been perfect–thin, small and even square–and I was soooo tempted to use that. Perhaps next time! Thanks for your variation–I know I am always buried in CSA cucumbers in the summer.
Love the idea of using rye bread. It’s one of my favorite types of bread and seems like it would pair really well with these flavors.
I’m so glad they turned out well for you. I don’t think I told you this, but I hunted for what I thought would be the perfect recipe for weeks! I’m picky like that though, especially when I have the time to look. I was actually surprised at how good the leftovers were a day later because from what I read, I expected them to get soggy. I definitely want to make the recipe on a Sunday night so I can have some sandwiches for the work week.
What book did you read for your club?
Oh and your shortbread was superb! I love shortbread and actually hadn’t made it myself until last year. The lavender flavored one was perfect.
I am happy to hear that the leftovers were good because there were a few quarters left that the kids took off to school for lunch and I was also afraid they’d get soggy (though they looked fine). This was the perfect recipe for Sunday–and equally good for book club (where they also got some leftover shortbread–my husband couldn’t believe I bought yet another shortbread mold;-) )!
We read Caleb’s Crossing for this month. I love being in a book club. I can procrastinate (especially with discretionary activities) so it keeps me on task–and of course the meetings are fun!
I am looking forward to the Oscar party!
These are so classy my friend, they fit your book perfectly 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks so much–I was most happy to discover these!
If you slice them thinly enough, this also works with radishes.
I’ll have to try that this spring when our radishes come back!
Cool as a cucumber! Tempting!
Oooooh, good pun 😉
🙂
i can’t say i’ve ever eaten a sandwich like this either! i have, however, seen downton abbey, and i love it. 🙂
I hadn’t been watching Downton Abbey before but got through all of the prior episodes by Sunday. I am so glad this got me into it!
Now I know what to take for my book club meeting next Friday.
Cucumber sandwiches were a staple at tea parties back home. I haven’t had one in years and years… thanks for reminding me how much I love them.
I hope your book club likes them!
They had better! 😉
We actually never use cream cheese in our cucumber sandwiches. Just butter. But I’d like to try your version.
On a winter day, these sandwiches would be so refreshing and summery. And sophisticated!
I need to use up the rest of the cucumber and was thinking of the Packer game on Saturday–so I hope they aren’t too sophisticated 😉 Actually DH has a party so it will just be us girls and I may get away with it. Perhaps I can color the cream cheese yellow for this!
That’s a terrific idea for our book club meeting. We try to serve ethnic food depending on the book when the meeting is at our houses. My book will be “Prague Winter” by Madaline Albright. It’s about her life in Czechoslovakia. Do you know any typically Czech recipes?
Mmmm, Czech food should be delicious! My mom used to make great cabbage rolls, but that might be a big hard for book club… You should post whatever you do!
A garden party sounds wonderful! These tea sandwiches looks so light, fresh and tasty. English cucumbers are my favorite.
These sandwiches (plus the scones) are my favorites at afternoon tea!
I guess afternoon tea is popular for good reason!
What a fun idea! Makes me want to throw a tea sandwich party of my own!
You should–it was great fun!
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We love cucumber sandwiches and these are my favorite food to take it to any small gathering. I make slight changes every time I take.
I understand–I tweak recipes all the time!
This will be perfect for my tea party date with my daughters tomorrow, thank you so much!
That sounds like fun!
Love these sandwiches…so elegant and I know delicious!! I bet the rye would have made wonderful sandwiches!
I think I’ll have to try the rye next time.
There’s something just special about tea sandwiches. Your version sounds delicious and I love Tammy’s idea of the radish. Sorry, I’ve been a way awhile.
Well congrats on moving–how exciting!
Perfect for a light lunch or for tea time!
Indeed!
These are so adorable! I love little tea sandwiches. So lady like!
Aren’t they! I know some people leave the crusts but I think they are daintier with them!
Perfect for High Tea
Yes!
Congratulations to your daughter! I love the look of your tea sandwiches. They sound so full of flavor, and the perfect choice to serve at a Garden Party celebration!
Thanks Teri! Can’t wait!
Two things: I love the cream cheese mixture! I could eat it just as is. Now, I also love these sandwiches and I’d have plenty to eat because no else in my house would eat them…aversion to cucumbers lol
You know we all hate cucumber but everyone likes these. Go figure!
Never had something like this, reminds me of the asparagus sandwich. I bet they are light, perfect afternoon tea snack
Asparagus sounds good too Raymund!
They are perfect and delicious! These sandwiches are our favorites. These will be great for a summer party!
Hooray for summer parties!
I haven’t had cucumber tea sandwiches in forever! It’s a great sandwich — nice snappy flavor, and a bit of crunch to it as well. Really good idea adding salt to the cream cheese — I’m SO going to steal that idea. 🙂
It felt like forever to me too John!
For tea sandwiches were always my favorite as a child. But in addition to the crust having to be trimmed, the cucumbers definitely had to be peeled! (I was a picky little child…) and, you know me, I don’t think the sandwich even begins to need that little bit of garlic powder…
Yes, David, it’s really the salt that makes it, not the garlic powder!
These are so yummy! I love the addition of the dill and the garlic. A perfect little sandwich during the summer.
The cool freshness really is perfect for summer!