Cucumber Dill Tea Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 loaf of square topped, thin white bread
Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature, optional
1 large or 2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, grated,
   squeezed and patted dry
1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 tablespoon grated Vidalia onion
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish

Instructions:
Put a very thin layer of butter on each slice of bread. After grating the cucumber, place it into several layers of paper towels and squeeze out the excess liquid; repeat if needed.  Mix the cucumber with all of the remaining ingredients well and spread between two slices of bread. Cut off crusts and cut into fourths.
Sandwiches can also be made ahead and frozen whole. Cut the crusts off and slice into fourths after thawing.

Increase mayonnaise and include the juices of the cucumber to transform this into a dip.

Variation:
If you are serving a small amount of these for a ladies tea or brunch, a very pretty and classic southern presentation is to cut the bread into rounds. There will be a lot of waste but save those pieces and bag them in the freezer for bread crumbs! Instead of adding the cucumber to the spread, slice those about 1/4-inch thick, either peeled or unpeeled. If you use a fork to scrape along the rind or a peeler to peel away only sections of the cucumber it makes a very pretty edge. Mix up the cream cheese mixture and pipe a dab onto the bread, place a cucumber round on top, and pipe another dab of the cream cheese mixture on top. Garnish with tiny sprigs of dill. Gorgeous!