You’ve heard of weed brownies. Maybe you’ve even tried one — but have you ever made one? The cool thing is, that cannabis can be adapted to a lot of recipes (not just brownies!), and you can use it in lots of food and drinks to really give yourself a buffet of delicious, euphoric treats to consume. With just a little preparation and practice, cooking with cannabis can be fun and simple for you to do anytime you please.
At Aunt Mary’s, our friendly, knowledgeable team is happy to share cannabis recipe tips anytime. Explore our tinctures, concentrates, and flowers to get started, and visit our FAQ page to learn more. Now, let’s dive into getting you started cooking with cannabis!
Why Cook with Cannabis?
Weed edibles and recipes are highly popular ways to get your high, and for good reason! It’s a fun, discreet method for using cannabis. And it tends to give you long-lasting effects because the weed is slowly broken down in your digestive system and continues to metabolize for quite a while.
Plus, there are so many easy, practical recipes on the internet for cooking with cannabis butter and cannabis oil. You don’t need fancy equipment or specialty skills, just a bit of practice and awareness of how to cook with cannabis. We’ve got you covered with tinctures, concentrates, and flowers that you can use conveniently at home.
Basics of Cooking with Cannabis
To make good weed recipes, it helps to understand how the whole process of cooking with cannabis works. So, let’s take a quick look at what you need to know:
Decarboxylation: What it is, and why it’s crucial
Using cannabis in recipes begins with decarboxylation — which is a fancy term for what happens when you heat up weed. During this process, the cannabinoids in the marijuana plant’s buds and leaves become activated, so that they can produce effects like the high you expect when you light up a joint or blunt.
The heat is what turns the plant’s components into THC, which can be absorbed by your body to give you all those good vibes you’re craving. So, it’s an essential step to consuming any weed for those “happy time” effects. When you buy a product like gummies, this “decarbing” process has already been done. But when you cook weed recipes at home, you may be heating the flower to perform the decarboxylation process.
How to Decarb Your Weed Buds
The decarbing process to make your weed active and ready for cooking must be done slowly in the oven on low heat. This is because if the temperature gets too high or the weed is heated too long, the terpenes within the buds will evaporate. The resulting weed won’t taste pleasant and won’t give you the high you’re after.
To make edibles with weed flowers, heat them in the oven at 220-225°F for 30-45 minutes, until they turn brownish-green. Keep in mind: Decarboxylation happens between 200-245°F. If you turn up the oven higher than that, the weed will break down and your recipe won’t get you buzzed.
Cannabis Butter vs. Oil: When to use each in recipes
Once you’ve decarbed the weed, you can infuse it into butter or oil. This allows the weed and all its good stuff to soak into the butter or oil, and then be cooked into tasty edibles like brownies, cookies, and other recipes. So, which is better — butter or oil? Well, it depends on the recipe, and on your personal tastes.
Cannabis butter (aka cannabutter) is rich and creamy, and it tastes similar to regular butter. It is high in saturated fats, which makes it a great option when you’re baking anything that butter is good for, like cakes, brownies, and cookies. If you’re making a weed-infused dessert, cannabutter will work beautifully. The fatty content of butter will also give the weed a consistent potency.
Cannabis oil can be made with many types of oil, such as coconut, avocado, and olive. You’ll have a range of flavors to consider, from mild to strong, depending on the oil’s own flavor profile. Cannabis oil is more versatile than butter because it can be adapted into many recipes beyond desserts. You might use it as part of a salad dressing, for cooking up a stir-fry meal, as a marinade, and more. It has less saturated fat than butter, so if you’re looking for a healthier option, cannabis oil can be a good fit.
Dosing Tips for Cooking with Cannabis
Just as with any other type of weed product you’re using, the best way to get started is to use a low dose to see how your body reacts. Use a reputable online edible dosage calculator to help you determine the dosage of each serving you’re making.
Also, remember that edibles take longer to kick in because they have to be digested before they hit your bloodstream, so take it slow. Give things time to work, and be careful not to overdo it by eating too much at once.
Easy Weed Recipes to Try
To get you started cooking with weed, here are a few cannabis butter recipes that are simple to make. Once you’re comfortable with techniques like these, you can explore more recipes online.
Cannabis Butter: Step-by-step instructions
Equipment and ingredients:
- Baking tray
- Parchment paper
- Saucepan
- Cheesecloth
- Cannabis
- Butter with the amount dictated by your recipe
- ¼ cup of water
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 220-225°F. While it’s heating up, remove and discard any seeds and stems from your cannabis flowers.
- Line the baking tray with parchment paper, and place the flowers in a single layer.
- Place the tray on the oven’s middle rack and heat for 30-45 minutes. Then remove it and allow it to cool fully.
- Melt the butter in the saucepan. Then, add the water and the amount of dried cannabis flower needed to get the dosage you’re looking for. (Remember, an edible dosage calculator helps with this.)
- Keep the mixture at a low simmer for two to three hours so the cannabis can fully infuse into the butter. (Keep the temperature below 190 degrees). Then remove from heat.
- Once the butter is cool to the touch (but not yet solid), strain it through cheesecloth and place the mixture into a sealable food container.
- Store the butter in the fridge until ready to use.
Fudgy Cannabis Butter Brownies: Quick and simple treat
Equipment and ingredients:
- Parchment paper
- 9”x13”” baking pan
- Saucepan
- 1 cup cannabis-infused butter (be sure to check dosage calculator to verify strength and safe serving sizes)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C), and line baking pan with parchment paper.
- Melt the cannabis-infused butter in saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Stir in sugar until well combined.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to the butter-egg mixture, and stir until just combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips and chopped nuts (if desired).
- Add vanilla extract.
- Pour batter into baking pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter
- Cool brownies, then cut into squares.
Peach-Raspberry Cannabis Smoothies: A refreshing option with tinctures
Ingredients:
- 1 cup frozen peach slices
- ½ cup fresh red raspberries
- ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt, full-fat, low-fat, or fat-free
- 2 scoops unflavored collagen protein powder
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
- Cannabis tincture of choice
Instructions
- Add the peaches, raspberries, yogurt, honey, cinnamon, and turmeric into a blender.
- Add the amount of cannabis tincture you want to enjoy to the mix.
- Blend on high until all ingredients are completely smooth.
- Pour into a cup and enjoy.
Storage and Safety Tips
To ensure your cannabis goodies are safely stored and used, follow these tips:
Airtight containers for freshness.
Cannabis infused butter should be placed in an airtight food container and stored in the refrigerator to prevent it from spoiling. Cannabis oil doesn’t have to be refrigerated, but it should be placed in an airtight container and kept out of the sunlight. Any recipes you cook with cannabis should be safely stored just as you’d store non-weed versions so that they stay fresh.
Proper labeling for safe use.
Taking the right dose of cannabis means being aware of how much you’re using at any given point. Make time to label anything you infuse with cannabis, so there’s never any confusion about what you’re using and when.
Keep away from children and pets.
Remember that children and pets can be tempted by food, so you’ll need to keep your edibles out of sight. Store anything with cannabis in places where they can’t be accessed by anyone but you.
Shop Cannabis Products at Aunt Mary’s
Cooking with weed can be a fun and simple experience—especially when you use the right ingredients. Choosing high-quality cannabis flowers, concentrates, and tinctures will help you be confident in the dosage and the high you get, and Aunt Mary’s is here to help!
Check out tinctures and other weed ingredients on our handy Med Menu to learn more about cannabis products for baking and cooking. Remember, you can contact us anytime with questions or visit us at our convenient locations to talk personally with our knowledgeable staff. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Sources:
- Decarboxylation: What Is It and Why Is It Important?
- Decarboxylation guide: How to properly decarb weed
- Edible Dosage Calculator: How to Determine the Potency of your Recipe
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All content is based on personal opinions, research, and reports from other sources. Always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.
