You Might Need a Sledgehammer to Make This Dessert, But It's Worth It

It's Hump Day. The general understanding of that term may be that since Wednesday is in the middle of the week, it represents the apex of work tyranny, the peak of the Sisyphian five-day crawl of answering emails, updating spreadsheets, eating the same ol' gruel from the shitty sandwich place around the corner from your office.

Which is why you should turn today to the humble macadamia nut—a metaphor for the overworked, upwardly mobile Millennial. It might be big, fatty, and mellow, but it's housed inside the world's toughest shell.

Like you, it's impenetrable from the outside and buttery smooth within. But while this may be one tough nut to crack, it's not tough to eat. All it needs is a little love—and a machine that can impart 300 pounds of pressure per square inch to access the creamy perfection inside. We're sure you have one of those hanging around your kitchen.

Luckily, most nuts come pre-shelled, and you might not need to break out your sledgehammer … this time.

Speaking of extreme effort, Julia Ziegler-Haynes of MUNCHIES series The Dinner Bell is our resident expert in effortless entertaining. She makes perfect homemade bagels seem like something that could be attained in the midst of a red-alarm hangover, and immaculately seared steak look like a (non-literal) piece of cake. So she's the ideal human to turn to when you need to whip up a dessert that looks incredibly fancy but is translatable to the didn't-go-to-culinary-school set.

For this dessert, which is as beautiful as it is delicious, all that you'll need are deez aforementioned nuts, fresh strawberries, and heavy whipping cream, plus a couple of easy-breezy things that everyone has laying around (a lemon, sea salt, olive oil).

Whip like crazy (it's good for the ol' guns), slice, zest, and layer, and you've got yourself something special. Some might even argue that all of that pressure (per square inch, that is) was well worth it.