Dainty Cheese Chive And Watercress Tea Sandwiches For Tea Time Food

VICTORIAN WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES FOR HIGH TEA AND PICNICS

Steps:

• Snip the stalks from the watercress and place the leafy ends on kitchen paper to absorb any water. Butter the bread generously, arrange the watercress over 4 slices and season. Top with the remaining bread, cut into triangles or fingers and serve.
• NB. (Don't discard the watercress stalks; they can be made into a soup. Soften a chopped onion in a pan with butter, add 250ml whole milk and bring to the boil. Add the stalks, cook for 1 minute then liquidise until smooth and foamy.).

DAINTY WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Spread 8 bread slices with cream cheese spread.
• Top with watercress; cover with remaining bread slices.
• Cut each sandwich into quarters to serve.

DAINTY EGG AND CHIVE TEA SANDWICHES FOR TEA-TIME

Steps:

• Place the eggs in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and run the eggs under cold water until cool.
• Peel and then coarsely grate or crumble the eggs into a bowl. Mix with the salad cream, mayonnaise and chives and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut off the bread crusts with a serrated knife - put them to one side for home-made breadcrumbs.
• Butter the bread and divide the egg mixture between 4 bread slices. Top with the remaining bread. Stack 2 sandwiches together and cut into 3 fingers, then serve.
• Cook's tips: Pierce the rounded end of each egg with a pin before cooking to help stop the shell from cracking.
• Cooling the eggs under cold water stops them from cooking further and prevents a dark ring forming around the yolk.
• For easy peeling, peel the eggs under cold running water over a colander to collect all the bits of shell. The water stops the shell from sticking to your fingers and the egg.

HAM, WATERCRESS AND MUSTARDY CREAM CHEESE TEA SANDWICH

Steps:

• Mix together the cream cheese and the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Add extra mustard for a more fiery flavour; however, it's probably best to have a mild mustard flavour for afternoon tea.
• Spread the cream cheese mixture on the 8 slices of bread and place the ham on top of Divide the watercress into small sprigs and place on top.
• Finish with the remaining slices of bread, trim off the crusts and cut each into 3 fingers. Serve on a pretty plate with some extra sprigs of watercress.

VICTORIA SANDWICH - CLASSIC ENGLISH SPONGE CAKE FOR TEA TIME

Steps:

• The measurements for this recipe are equal amounts of sugar, flour and fat to the weight of the eggs; Recipezaar will not allow me to post that as a measurement. Therefore, weigh the eggs first - if the eggs weigh 8 ounces, you will use 8 ounces of sugar, 8 ounces of butter or margarine and 8 ounces of flour. If the eggs weigh 6 ounces, all the other ingredients will be 6 ounces - easy!
• Set oven Gas 4 160C (fan oven), 180C or 360F: grease and base line the bottom of 2 x 8" sandwich tins - cake tins.
• Cream margarine or butter together with the sugar, until light and fluffy.
• Beat the eggs, and then add them to the mixture, gradually and beating well after each addition.
• Sieve the flour and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.
• Divide equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven.
• Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from the tins and fill with raspberry jam (and cream if using) when cold, to avoid the cream melting or the jam seeping into the sponge.
• A light dusting of caster sugar or icing sugar on the top will finish it.
• Place on an attractive cake stand or plate, and serve in dainty wedges with freshly brewed tea.
• Cook's Notes.
• If you use butter remove from the fridge to soften before using. This is not necessary with soft margarine.
• If large eggs are used they may weigh 7 ½ ozs/210g. If so make sure you use this weight for the other ingredients.
• A smaller sandwich cake can be made with 2 medium eggs. Weight about 4 oz/55g. If so, use 2 x 7" sandwich tins and the cakes and the cakes will need less time in the oven - probably 20mins.
• Alternative measurements:.
• 3 eggs.
• 6 ounces soft margarine or butter.
• 6 ounces caster sugar.
• 6 ounces SR flour.
• Proceed as above for method.

HAM AND WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese and chives together well.
• Spread bread slices with the cream cheese mixture. Cover half the slices with watercress leaves, pressing them into the cream cheese. Top the watercress with the ham slices. Cover with the remaining bread slices.
• Cut the crusts off each sandwich and then cut them in quarters or thirds.

EGG AND WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Remove the crusts from the bread.
• Chop the eggs, and gently mix in a bowl with the chopped watercress and chives. Add just enough mayonnaise to moisten and bind the mixture the mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tabasco, and gently mix well.
• Spread half of the slices of bread with the egg and watercress mixture, and place the remaining slices of bread on top.
• Lightly spread the outside edge of each sandwich with mayonnaise and dip into the chopped parsley.
• Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles.
• To serve, arrange the sandwiches on a platter, and garnish with the remaining watercress.

CREAM CHEESE DAINTIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour to the creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough into four portions; cover and refrigerate until easy to handle. , On a lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough at a time into a 10x7-1/2-in. rectangle. Trim edges if necessary. Cut into 2-1/2-in. squares., Place 1/4 teaspoon spreadable fruit or preserves near each end of two diagonal corners. Moisten the remaining two corners with water; fold over and press lightly. , Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until corners are lightly browned. Cool 2-3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.