Turkey Cranberry Tea Sandwiches

Are you in need of a break after all the Thanksgiving Day festivities?  Turkey Cranberry Tea Sandwiches are a simple, elegant way to savor the last of your Turkey Day leftovers.  Only a few simple ingredients here, but these tea sandwiches are satisfying, savory, and sweet!

Although I took the lazy route of using some store-bought roasted turkey lunch meat myself, feel free to use regular roasted turkey to make these tea sandwiches, just make sure to slice the meat as thinly as possible.

Another key ingredient of this recipe is a good-quality orange marmalade.  Some marmalades are pretty sweet and others are on the bitter side.  When I have marmalade on toast by itself I prefer to use the sweet kind (like Smucker’s), but for this recipe I think a slightly bitter marmalade (like Bonne Maman) gives the sandwich a more unique and balanced flavor.

There are many types of tea that will pair well with these sandwiches, but as fall comes to a close I’m drinking up as much of Celestial Seasoning’s Cinnamon Apple Spice Tea as I can.  Not a fancy or expensive tea by any means, but totally delicious and caffeine-free!

Take a well-deserved break after all that cooking and shopping and treat yourself to some of these finger sandwiches today.  With a cup of good tea, you’ll be refocused and recharged to start thinking about all that cooking and shopping that will be coming around the corner as the year comes to a close in December!

Turkey Cranberry Tea Sandwiches

Makes 12 tea sandwiches.

Ingredients:

8 slices whole wheat bread, frozen

16 pieces of very thinly sliced turkey

1 package Neuchâtel Cheese (low-fat cream cheese, at room temperature)

3 Tbsp orange marmalade

¼ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

Equipment:

large serrated knife

Directions:

1.)  In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, marmalade, cranberries, salt and pepper together.

2.)  Remove bread from freezer and place the slices on a large work surface.

3.)  Spread cream cheese mixture on each of 8 bread pieces evenly, making sure to cover the entire front surface of each piece.

4.)  Place 4 slices of turkey on each of 4 pieces of bread.  Top with the other 4 slices of bread, press down slightly, and cut off crusts using serrated knife.

5.)  Cut each crustless sandwich into 3 equal pieces lenthwise and enjoy!