To help ease the pain of exams, life and all that other shit.
With exams just around the corner you’re probably high strung and stressed out. Well here I am to ensure that you’re only high! Here’s a post exam treat from my crystal-obsessed, kawakawa balm-making, ‘granola’ mom of a sister. My sister has five kids and I’ve never seen her yell at them once, this must be her secret.
Like any good mommy blog, I should probably preface this article with a long-winded story about edibles and how weed brownies bring family and friends together…JK! I won’t do that to you but I will say however, that the first time I did an edible I slept for 2 days. Absolutely life changing!
Cannabutter ingredients:
1 ounce bud
500 grams butter
Brownie ingredients:
7 tablespoons cannabutter
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ⅓ cups of chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
Step 1: Cannabutter Prep
Everything starts with a good base and this concentrated cannabutter is what makes your special brownie, well, ‘special.’ This is probably the longest and messiest process of making an edible. There are a few steps to be done and I would even pencil out a day or two to do this. But here’s the prep:
Step 1a: Decarboxylation
This is a fancy word for heating that good good up!
First you must put your weed in the oven for a bit. It’s called decarboxylation and it’s important. Decarboxylation is a chemical process that ‘activates’ weed when heat is introduced. Cooking your weed beforehand turns on the THC and is the reason why you don’t get high from eating straight buds. It’s the heat that gives you the high.
- Preheat your oven to anything between 50-80 degrees celsius.
- Grind your weed fine and lay it out on a lined baking sheet. You want as much flower as you can get, but cabbage and stems work just as well. So save the stems and leaves after your next sesh so you can use them later. But usually I would recommend at least a 50/50 ratio of bud to cab (cause I know you can’t afford a whole ounce just for butter).
- After grinding your bud. (But be sure to avoid a powder situation.) You want to put your lined sheet in the oven. You’ll want the weed in there for 20-30 minutes.
Putting your weed in the oven will stink your whole house up, so I would recommend doing this at night. But once your house starts smelling real good you know it’s time for the next steps.
Step 1b: Making the butter!
If you own a slow cooker, or even a rice cooker, time to get that bad boy out.
- Melt your butter in your slow cooker. You want to avoid simmering or cooking your butter.
- Once butter is melted, put in the weed. Make sure everything is submerged. A little bit of water could help in this process.
- Now wait 7 hours.
I did tell you this step is the longest. I’ve seen sources say anything from 6-24 hours on low is correct, but I’ve personally found success with 7. But if you do these steps at night you can leave your slow cooker, or a rice cooker set on warm and go to sleep.
Step 1c: Straining the butter
This is the messiest step and needs all hands on deck. I would say ask a flattie for help, but then you’re pretty much obliged to share.
- Line a strainer with cheesecloth, a clean tuffy towel or even coffee filters and pour everything through it into a container. This container is going into the fridge, so if it’s glass or ceramic you may want to allow it to cool for a bit before hitting the fridge. Squeeze as much butter out of the cheesecloth as possible. It will be hot and slippery so powder free gloves are really useful.
You will most likely spill or waste a bit of butter. THAT IS NORMAL. I found using coffee filters to be very easy and only a little bit messy. But the greener your butter, the better. If it looks dark while melted, then you’ve done a good job.
Storing the butter
Keep in an airtight container and store in the fridge. Maybe it’s best to label and hide this one away in case your flatmates try stealing this too.
Step 2: Brownie
With your butter you can make anything you want. I’ve chosen brownies cause I’m a stereotypical stoner and I love indulging lmao.
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Butter your baking pan and line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt chocolate and butter with oil. Remove from heat. Add both sugars and whisk for 10 seconds. Add eggs and whisk vigorously for 45 seconds until glossy and smooth. Using a rubber spatula, stir in dry ingredients. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until set and a tester inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool in a pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Then remove the brownie using parchment and let cool completely on the rack before cutting into squares.
Brownies can be stored in an airtight container for up to two days. So go off and have fun.
Make sure to share with your mates cause a high is always better when it’s shared.
