Baby Shower Tea Party: Tea Sandwiches & Tarts

Here is a delicious smoked salmon tea sandwich with a wonderful herbed butter.

A couple of tips to help you make beautiful little tea sandwiches…

* Make sure the butter is softened before making the herbed butter

* Try to find a very dense bread — like Rubschlager’s Cocktail Breads — so that the butter spreads on easily and evenly

* Refrigerating the sandwiches before cutting will help ensure a clean cut and an elegant presentation

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches
Barefoot Contessa

Herb butter:
2 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons minced scallions (white and green parts)
5 tablespoons minced fresh dill
5 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
5 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Sandwiches:
5 loaves dense 7-grain or health bread, unsliced
40 slices smoked salmon

For the herb butter, combine all the butter ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until mixed, but do not whip.

For the sandwiches, have the store slice the bread lengthwise on a meat slicer into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (If that isn’t possible, you can slice it crosswise with a very sharp knife.)

Lay out 40 slices of bread and spread them all with a thin layer of herb butter. Place smoked salmon on 20 of the slices. Top with the other 20 slices of bread, butter side down. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate until the butter is very cold. Place the sandwiches on a cutting board. With a very sharp knife, cut off the crusts, cut each large sandwich in half crosswise, and then cut each half diagonally twice to make a total of 40 small triangles. (If the bread was cut crosswise, follow the assembly directions, then cut off the crusts and cut diagonally, twice, to make 20 small triangles.)

Serve chilled.