Jalapeno Cucumber Sandwiches up the flavor quotient on the tea-time classic with fresh jalapeno, a squeeze of lime juice, and garlic powder.
If you’re growing cucumbers like I am, you’re probably being driven cucumber-crazy right about now trying to figure out what to do with them all. Sure you can slice ‘em up and toss them into salads, snack on them solo, or pickle ‘em, but that gets to be a bit mundane. Enter the cucumber sandwich to break up the monotony!
A dainty sandwich once reserved for aristocrats at tea time, the cucumber sandwich makes for a refreshingly delicious snack all cucumber-lovers can enjoy. My Jalapeno Cucumber Sandwich strays from recipes of yesteryear by adding a non-traditional zing.
Cucumbers play well here with the flavors of jalapeno, lime juice, and garlic powder. Jalapeno Cucumber sandwiches are super easy to make, and can even be made up to 24 hours ahead of time (though I’d recommend only making them up to 4 hours ahead for optimal freshness and crunch).
Traditional recipes of the cucumber sandwich instruct to remove the bread crusts, but I chose to keep mine on. Dealer’s choice here, get as fancy as you like. Some prefer a peeled cuke, others leave the skin on, and still others do the spiral peel. Again, dealer’s choice. I opted to remove the skin since I used freshly picked garden cucumbers and they be prickly SOB’s.
Look over at that pile of cucumbers on your countertop with renewed enthusiasm and get ready to make some delicious and zippy Jalapeno Cucumber Sandwiches. Break out the mandolin, soften that cream cheese, and get ready to make your new favorite summer sandwich.
- 1 (8 ounce) block of cream cheese (softened)
- 1 jalapeno, finely diced
- ½ - ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 pieces of wheat bread (I used Brownberry Natural Wheat bread)
- 1-2 cucumbers*, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandolin
- Squeeze of lime juice
- Salted butter
- Combine softened cream cheese, diced jalapeno, garlic powder, and lime juice in a bowl, and mix vigorously until smooth and creamy.
- Spread a super thin layer of butter on each slice of bread (leave the crust on or remove it - dealer’s choice). A thin layer of butter helps prevent the cucumber sandwiches from getting soggy.
- Slather a thin layer of cream cheese onto each slice of bread.
- Arrange a layer of thinly sliced cucumbers onto half of the pieces of bread.
- Assemble! By plopping the cream cheese slices of bread onto the cucumber-laden slices.
- I like to cut each sandwich into 4 mini-sandwiches, by cutting diagonally across the sandwich.
- Serve and enjoy.
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