I have served this sandwich a few times at teas I have hosted, but most recently served it at a garden party where I catered all of the food. I offered four savory options and three deserts, so I apologize for not having preparation pictures. A big thank you to Connie Shelton who took pictures of my food that day and without whom I would not have a picture to share with you here!
I found this recipe in the January/February issue of Tea Time Magazine. This open-faced sandwich is a bit of a surprise to the taste buds because it has a bit of heat from a little cayenne pepper, but it's also bursting with flavor. Most people are surprised that it's made with white cheddar because of the color, however, the cayenne gives the cheese the orange hue.
A food processor is a necessary tool when making this recipe to get the texture just right. There are only a few steps to making this sandwich, so it doesn't take much time.
After shredding the cheeses, I place them, the mayonnaise and cayenne pepper into my food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Using the pulse button, I combine the ingredients until they are fully incorporated and mostly smooth. The roasted red peppers come in strips, so after I drain them, I dice them. After dicing the fresh chives, I remove the cheese mixture to a medium bowl and fold in the peppers and chives.
If I'm serving these right away, I cut my bread into shapes and dress them with the cheese mixture and a couple of fresh chives for garnish. The bread can be cut into any shape you desire, making sure they aren't any bigger than about 2 inches in diameter.
When serving sandwiches at a tea, I've found that the bread can dry out pretty quickly. The way to avoid this is to place your sandwiches on your serving plate, then cover with wax paper. Completely cover the wax paper with slightly wet paper towel. The wet paper towel will keep in the moisture and the wax paper acts as a barrier to keep the sandwiches from getting wet. Remove both layers just before serving. This works every time!
In this case, I wanted to make as many things ahead of time as possible, so I toasted my bread the day before and stored the pieces in a zip lock bag. Sandwiches are usually cut in squares, triangles, and rectangles, so I decided to have a different look and cut the bread into hexagons. Open-faced sandwiches give you more of an option that way.
I had made the cheese mixture ahead of time also and brought it in a Tupperware bowl, so all I had to do was assemble the sandwiches. I thought spreading the cheese would take too much time, so I used the smallest of my Pampered Chef scoops to top the toast with the cheese, then applied two small pieces of chives for garnish. They tasted as good as they looked! Enjoy!
Addendum:
I made these delicious open-faced sandwiches today again for a Fall Tea. To make it a little more theme related, I used bread shaped like oak leaves and I put a clove in the top of the cheese ball to make it resemble a pumpkin! This side view isn't the best, but I'll show you how I did it.
Then, I toasted them in the toaster oven. I made the leaf toasts a day ahead, and once they were cooled, I stored them in a zip-lock bag until they were ready to top with the cheese ball.
Open-Faced White Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches
8 oz. sharp
white cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz.
Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
5 tablespoons
mayonnaise
½ teaspoon
cayenne pepper
½ cup diced
marinated roasted red peppers
¼ cup minced
chives
12 slices
multigrain bread, cut into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter
Garnish: fresh chives
In the work
bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse together the
cheddar, Monterey Jack, mayonnaise, and cayenne until mixture is mostly
smooth. Fold in the diced red
peppers and chives until well combined.
Spread a small amount on each bread round and garnish with fresh chives,
if desired.
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