* Tea Sandwiches should be made fresh, on the morning of your party.
* Tea Sandwiches should be small and always have the crusts cut off.
* Try not to use super fresh bread. It tends to be too soft.
* Creamy peanut butter and whipped cream cheese are easier to spread.
* Your spreadables will spread much more easily when they are at room temperature.
* Breads marked "thin" or "very thin" work the best.
* Kids tend to like white bread or wheat bread the best. Save the wheat, pumpernickel and rye breads for the adults.
* Some supermarkets sell "party" breads, already cut into smaller slices and smaller squares.
* If you are making a sandwich with a deli meat (bologna, turkey, ham, etc.) use some spray butter on both sides of the bread. It acts as "glue" in keeping the sandwich intact, especially after the crusts are cut off.
* To cut the crust off, stack three or four sandwiches together and use a serrated knife.
* After the crusts have been cut off, slice the sandwich into smaller squares, rectangles or triangles.
* Use teapot or teacup shaped cookie cutters to cut tea sandwiches but remember if you are using cookie cutters you don't have to cut the crust off first.
* To keep sandwiches fresh after preparing, moisten a paper towel and lay it over the sandwiches, cover the paper towel with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate.
* Open faced tea sandwiches look pretty on a tea table too!
* Egg, tuna or chicken salad works the best for open faced tea sandwiches.
* Cut the crust off of the bread first for open faced tea sandwiches. Then cut the bread into rectangles or triangles.
* Use the back of a teaspoon and spread the salad lightly and evenly on top of the bread.
It is written everywhere that you can use cookie cutters to cut sandwiches into whimsical shapes. This is true and very cute for a child's tea party but it takes some practice. If you are planning to do this for your tea party, please experiment beforehand using the same exact ingredients you will use on the day of your tea party. In my experiences, metal cookie cutters work the best as they tend to cut deeper than plastic cookie cutters. Remember that you are cutting through two slices of bread and filling, not sugar cookie dough!
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