I love traveling. Business or pleasure. Exotic vacation or quick trip home to see family. New cities. Old cities. Local cuisines. Glamorous hotels. I’m all about it.
You know what I’m not all about? Cooking while traveling.
And it’s not because I feel entitled to dine out while I’m on vacation (although, truth be told, nobody really wants to cook while on vacation). If we’re being honest, it’s because I’m spoiled by my kitchen.
I’ve spent 10+ years curating my kitchen, and I can say with 95% accuracy that I have just about every piece of equipment I could possibly need to turn out a gourmet meal for any given occasion.
I have invested in my kitchen. Where other people splurge on jewelry or designer clothes or new cars, I buy kitchen appliances. When my husband finished his MBA and landed his dream job, I got a new KitchenAid Pro-Line stand mixer (I named her Pearl. And I love her more than I love my children most days). I prefer my cookware because I spent nine months diligently researching and testing pots and pans before landing on that particular set. I can whip up a three-tiered cake with just a few hours’ notice, but only because I already have every single piece of equipment and ingredient within arms reach to do so.
And I’m not just talking about equipment. I also have an incredibly well-stocked pantry. Yes, I do, in fact, have four different kinds of baking cocoa, eight different kinds of sugar, and at least ten different kinds of flour in my pantry presently. And yes, I do use each and every one of them on a regular basis.
This is why I find it so hard to cook in other people’s kitchens. CAN I do it? Absolutely. But if you ask me to cook in your kitchen, I’m always going to feel like you’re not getting my best work.
We just spent the past week visiting family in Ohio. And while I loved every minute of it, I was so excited to get home to my own kitchen. After a week of cooking in my sister’s kitchen (which is equipped with exactly one measuring cup and a mixer from the 50’s), I was so happy to cook dinner in my own space. Last night, we had Hawaiian pork fajitas with homemade guacamole, pineapple slaw, coconut rice, and this incredible strawberry graham icebox cake. And it. was. spectacular.
I mean, nothing says “I’m so happy to be home!” like a six-layer cake made with homemade graham cracker cookies, right?
Strawberry Graham Icebox Cake
Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
Active time: 45 minutes
Start to finish: 2 hours (plus 3-4 hours to rest in the fridge before serving)
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
For the graham cracker cookies
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (125 grams) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey
1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine if using a food processor, softened otherwise
1 large egg
For the filling
6 tablespoons (75 grams) granulated sugar
Finely grated zest of half a lemon
8 ounces cream cheese, very soft
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (355 ml) heavy whipping cream
3 1/2 to 4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
Directions
For the graham cracker cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Get out 4 sheets of parchment paper and locate a bowl or plate with a 7-inch diameter.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, spices and sugars in the work bowl of a food processor, running until mixed. Add butter and run machine until it is powdery. Add egg and honey and run machine until the dough begins to clump/ball together.
Divide dough into 6 balls. Roll out first ball between two sheets of parchment paper until it is slightly larger than the 7-inch rim. Do not trim. Remove the top sheet carefully (if it sticks, just slide this dough sheet into the freezer for 2 to 3 minutes to firm up before trying again; I didn’t find this at all necessary).
Slide graham round and the paper it is on onto a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, until it’s a shade darker on top and browned at the edges.
The moment it comes out of the oven, place the 7-inch plate or bowl right on top of the hot cookie and use a sharp knife or pastry wheel to cut the cookie into a circle. Remove the bowl or plate, leave edges attached to cookie; they’ll remove easily once it has cooled for a minute or two. Slide parchment sheet with cookie on it onto cooling rack. In a couple minutes, it will be cool enough to remove the parchment sheet. Reuse it for other cookies.
Repeat with remaining dough until you have 6 baked graham cookies. Allow to cool completely, then remove excess around the edges of each circle so that you’re left with 6 cookie rounds.
For the filling
Slice your strawberries paper thin with your sharpest knife. Set aside.
Place sugar in the bottom of a large bowl and sprinkle zest over it; rub zest into sugar with your fingertips so that it releases the most flavor. Add cream cheese and beat until combined, light, and fluffy. Add vanilla and salt and beat again. Add heavy or whipping cream just a spoonful at a time at first. You want to stretch the whipped cream cheese very slowly or it will take on a lumpy appearance. Once enough cream has been added that the mixture is liquid, add the rest. Beat cream and cream cheese together until it holds soft peaks.
Place a small dab of whipped cream on the center of serving plate and place first cookie on top. Scoop 1/6 of cream onto first cookie layer and spread it almost completely to edges. Arrange strawberry slices in a single layer, not so close that they touch, but so the top is covered. Repeat 5 more times. Rest cake in fridge for 3 to 4 hours before serving.
Baked, cooled cookies keep for a week, if not longer, at room temperature in a tin or loosely wrapped. Cake with fresh berries, once assembled, is best in its first 24 to 36 hours.