Days are propped up with the meal-time pillars of breakfast, lunch, and dinner — foundations, standards, each meal loaded with an expectation and anticipation all squared off in the work week or the weekend. Yet not every day is so regimented. There used to be times in between the scheduled lot of to-dos when the third space of small meals added a different spark to the time. In the South, there used to be the tea parlor, in the North, there used to be the donut counter or diner. It’s in this in-between space, this time that isn’t really an official time or meal, that these Fruit Cream Sandwiches exist. Light yet satisfying, these sweet treats are just enough to tide you over.

While fruit, cream, and carbs aren’t a revolutionary combination, Fruit Cream Sandwiches, with their emphasis on a craftily clean-cut presentation, are partially Japanese. Like a lot of food history, pinpoint origins are murky, the fruit sando as it is called sprung out of the turn of the century during rapid Westernization and modernization of the country. With the expansion of department stores and lunch counters, the café culture emerged as an in-between spot to grab a light and often leisurely bite that didn’t weigh one down like an average lunch. With the amount of domestic agricultural space dedicated to growing certain things, fruits were always very seasonal and often pricier than their vegetable counterparts. The combination of pricey fruits in a demure European café setting was peak luxury, and a treat that was not always affordable. Those with the wallets would pay for lavish and ornate fruit parfaits, yet it was during the first half of the 20th century that the Fruit Cream Sandwich emerged. It was more affordable than a parfait, not as sweet as cake, easily transportable, and significantly cheaper than other fruit desserts, making the once ritzy fruit parlor more accessible to a different clientele.

Since their inception all of those years back, Fruit Cream Sandwiches haven’t really changed much. Two soft white bread slices act as bookends to fresh fruit suspended in lightly sweetened (or sometimes not sweetened at all) whipped cream.

The ingredients — white bread, whipped cream, sugar, and fruit — aren’t difficult to gather, the trick to these pretty and presentable Fruit Cream Sandwiches is the assembly process. After rinsing and drying the fruit, whipping the cream, and cutting the crust off of the bread, you’re ready to assemble.

Once you pipe a thin layer of whipped cream onto one piece of bread, place the fruit on a diagonal on top of the bread.

Pipe more whipped cream over the fruit. Make sure you know where the diagonal of the fruit is, or else you won’t see the a pretty fruit cross section when you slice the sandwich in half.

Without losing sight of where the fruit diagonal is, carefully and tightly wrap the sandwiches with plastic wrap. Use a pen to mark the diagonal, that way you know where to cut it.

The sandwiches need a minimum of one hour to firm up in the refrigerator. These can last up to one day in the refrigerator, so make sure to make them and eat them quickly!

Using the pen mark on the plastic wrap as a guide, take a sharp knife and slice the sandwiches in half on the diagonal. Cutting the sandwiches that are still in the plastic wrap prevents the cream and fruit from spilling out.

Sliced and served, these Fruit Cream Sandwiches are delightfully pretty to look at as well as wonderful to eat.

The soft bread compliments the fluffy notes of cream, showcasing the pure taste of the fruit.

Since the cream is sweetened ever so slightly, this makes for a refreshingly light sweet treat that doesn’t come with a toothache.

While the sandwiches were made with grapes, bananas, oranges, and kiwis, you can also use fruits like strawberries, pineapple, mango, and star fruit. You want to use a fruit that won’t brown too much and looks pretty when sliced in half.

You can also change up the whipped cream filling by making a chocolate whipped cream by folding in crushed Oreo cookies.