How hard can it be to make a good cucumber sandwich? Surely not that hard... Right?
No, it's not that hard, but there are definitely some tips to getting it right!
Firstly, wash your cucumber. When I was first setting up, preparing for my food hygiene inspection (we got 5 stars, of course!), I learnt all kinds of interesting things about food hygiene... Trust me, you want to wash your fruit and veggies!
Peel your cucumber. You can pop the peel into a nice cold jug of water if you like, for some refreshing cucumber water. Slice your cucumber, not too thickly - I'd recommend using the side of a box grater or similar for consistent slices.
Lay your cucumber slices out on kitchen roll and put more on top - press those little suckers to get out the excess moisture (goodbye soggy sandwiches!).
Take your bread - as fresh as you can get it - and apply a thin layer of butter to both slices. This creates a little moisture barrier and saves the bread from going soggy. We like to spread a thin layer of cream cheese too, and then carefully lay out the cucumber so the bread is covered with no gaps - this is important, because you don't want any gaps when you cut the sandwiches!
Finally, trim the crusts from the sandwich (and eat them, they're yummy!) and then cut the sandwich into fingers of equal size. Lay the finger sandwiches on their side, on a lovely plate, and if you aren't eating them straight away, make sure you cover them with clingfilm to keep them fresh.
Enjoy with a freshly brewed cup of tea, and as many cakes as you can manage.