Leave it to Anne Shirley to turn an egg salad sandwich into a feast for the imagination. As I recreated the sandwiches she served to her friends during their “golden picnic,” I resolved to make them as Anne would: with as much extra flair as possible. I started with my own personal egg salad recipe (a close cousin to my deviled egg recipe) and spiced it up from there. After whipping up some croissants (no boring bread here!), I cut the croissants in half, added a layer of watercress for an elegant touch, and sneaked a special surprise into the egg salad. The result: a feast for kings, no imagination necessary! 🙂

Poetical Egg Salad Sandwiches

“I’m going to have the daintiest things possible. . . things that will match the spring, you understand. . .little jelly tarts and lady fingers, and drop cookies frosted with pink and yellow icing, and buttercup cake. And we must have sandwiches too, though they’re not very poetical.”
— Anne of Avonlea

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 dozen hard boiled eggs (I use this technique from Simply Recipes to hard boil them)
• 1 extra egg (and 1 tbsp water to mix with it)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tbsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tsp chives
• 1 bunch fresh watercress
• premade croissant dough (I made a 1/3 portion of this BHG recipe, which was enough for 6 large croissants)
• and our special secret ingredient…3 sticks of imitation crab!

Makes 6 egg salad sandwiches

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  NOTE: Home made croissants definitely contribute to the overall “poetical-ness” of this dish, but you’ll find no judgement here if you decide to go with store-bought. After all, time is precious! If you do decide to go the home made route, the recipe for the dough I used can be found here. To save space, I decided not to include the dough prep here in my instructions. However, I found BHG’s instructions for turning the dough into croissants to be a little hard to follow, so I’ve included my own instructions below with the rest of the egg salad recipe. Off we go!
2. First, cut your dough crosswise into four equal portions. Wrap three of the portions in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge. Then, roll out the first portion with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. As you roll, try to keep the shape as close to a square as possible!
   
3. Cut the square in half diagonally across the center, creating two triangles. If you want, you can trim the edges for a cleaner look.
   
4. Starting from the long side of the triangle, use your fingers to roll up the triangle into a cylinder. Curve the tips downward to create a crescent moon shape. Do you notice how the tip of the triangle is tucked underneath? You want to maintain that through the rest of the process, so the croissants don’t come unrolled.
   
   

   

5. Repeat this process one at a time with the remaining three sections of dough, until all your dough has been rolled out, cut, and made into crescents.
6. Place the croissants 4 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and allow the croissants to rise in a warm place for 1 hour (they should double in size).
   
7. Whisk an egg with 1 tbsp water and coat the croissants with a pastry brush. Pop them in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden.
   
8. While the dough is transforming into little bits of flaky, buttery goodness, shell your eggs and coarsely chop them. Chop up your crab as well. I recommend cutting it just slightly finer than the eggs. I cut it too fine and found myself wishing for bigger pieces!
9. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, parsley, chives, and crab. Give them a good stirring until they’re well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
   
   

   

10. Remove the croissants from the oven when they’re all golden and allow them to cool completely (mine didn’t take long to cool—only 15 minutes or so). Cut the croissants in half lengthwise and place a layer of watercress leaves on the bottom half of the croissant.

    

11. When you’re ready to eat, spoon a generous helping of egg salad onto each sandwich.
    
12. Serve during a golden picnic with “all the daintiest things possible!” 🙂
    

Here’s the Yummly printable!

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Anne Shirley’s Poetical Egg Salad Sandwiches

Makes 6 egg salad sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 dozen hard boiled eggs
• 1 extra egg (and 1 tbsp water to mix with it)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tbsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tsp chives
• 1 bunch fresh watercress
• 3 sticks of imitation crab
• premade croissant dough

Instructions

1. First, cut your dough crosswise into four equal portions. Wrap three of the portions in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge. Then, roll out the first portion with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. As you roll, try to keep the shape as close to a square as possible!
2. Cut the square in half diagonally across the center, creating two triangles. If you want, you can trim the edges for a cleaner look.
3. Starting from the long side of the triangle, use your fingers to roll up the triangle into a cylinder. Curve the tips downward to create a crescent moon shape. Tuck the tip of the triangle under the rest of the roll, so the croissants don't come unrolled.
4. Repeat this process one at a time with the remaining three sections of dough, until all your dough has been rolled out, cut, and made into crescents.
5. Place the croissants 4 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and allow the croissants to rise in a warm place for 1 hour (they should double in size).
6. Whisk an egg with 1 tbsp water and coat the croissants with a pastry brush. Pop them in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden.
7. While the dough is transforming into little bits of flaky, buttery goodness, shell your hardboiled eggs and coarsely chop them. Chop up your crab as well. I recommend cutting it just slightly finer than the eggs.
8. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, parsley, chives, and crab. Give them a good stirring until they're well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
9. Remove the croissants from the oven when they're all golden and allow them to cool completely. Cut the croissants in half lengthwise and place a layer of watercress leaves on the bottom half of the croissant.
10. When you're ready to eat, spoon a generous helping of egg salad onto each sandwich.
11. Serve during a golden picnic with "all the daintiest things possible!"

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