Blondies instead of brownies?

OK family...I've read all the posts I could find on making brownies. Alot of good information that is leaving me confused. So I'm just going to post what I wanna do and hopefully you guys will steer me in the right direction.

I don't want to make brownies, I want to make blondies and it's gonna have to be from scratch, since I've never seen a box mix for blondies. The recipe is below. OK so you guys tell me at what point do I add the weed? Should I make cannabutter and use it to melt the brown sugar? Or do we need to grind it up superfine and add it to the blondie batter? I'd like to have them ready in time for the Jermain Taylor fight this evening....Thanks family!!

8 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. chopped pecans

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat.
Stir in sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
Butter a 9 inch square pan.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Beat eggs one at a time into sugar mixture. Beat in vanilla.
Stir in flour mixture gradually. Stir in pecans.
Pour into buttered pan and bake until blondies come away from sides of pan, 50-60 minutes.
Cool completely before cutting. Makes 16 squares.

No one likes chewing up bits of weed, Id recommend going the cannabutter route.

ya id make cannabutter but if you dont mind tastin the weed in your food then wen u melt the butter just throw in the weed to with and let it simmer for like 20 mins and the continue with the recipe. plus i think if you leave the weed in the batch then it will be more potent than if you strain it out since if you didnt get all the thc out with the butter then wen you bake it that will also take out the thc.

OK here's my concerns....
#1-if I make the cannabutter, will reheating it to carmelize the brown sugar damage the THC content?

#2-these blondies cook @ 325 for about 60 mins....in most of the stuff I've read, you should only cook THC for about 30 mins. What effect will the longer cooking time have on the THC content? I don't want to burn it all off in the oven...should I lower the temp and cook longer?

We don't mind the taste of weed, so I was thinkng that if I ground it up powderfine (like in bob's cannabutter pictures) then it should just blend in with the batter like any other powdered herb.

Hey Maryjane,Ive cooked brownies for 45-50 minutes and have never had any complaints except when I run out.I think you are refering to the making of the canna butter?Maybe?I do mine in a slow cooker for 12 hours.I think you will be fine just baking it as its already attached/bonded/worked in with the butter.I think the only time you will have to pay attention is when you are warming up the butter.I keep mine frozen and then nuke it when I need it so its already a liquid when I need it.I think you might want to make sure you dont scorch it in the pan.Looks like a great recipe,yummy.

I am not a big fan of the taste of canna butter so I usually make brownies with so much crap in em (cream,carmel,fudge,choc.chips,cream cheese)so that I dont have to taste it.Works but they end up being rich as hell...oh well you dont need more than one anyways.As I reread your post I see I am a day late as the Taylor fight was last night.Big suprise huh?Anyways how did your treats turn out?

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Originally Posted by Charles U Farley

Hey Maryjane,Ive cooked brownies for 45-50 minutes and have never had any complaints except when I run out.I think you are refering to the making of the canna butter?Maybe?I do mine in a slow cooker for 12 hours.I think you will be fine just baking it as its already attached/bonded/worked in with the butter.I think the only time you will have to pay attention is when you are warming up the butter.I keep mine frozen and then nuke it when I need it so its already a liquid when I need it.I think you might want to make sure you dont scorch it in the pan.Looks like a great recipe,yummy.

I am not a big fan of the taste of canna butter so I usually make brownies with so much crap in em (cream,carmel,fudge,choc.chips,cream cheese)so that I dont have to taste it.Works but they end up being rich as hell...oh well you dont need more than one anyways.As I reread your post I see I am a day late as the Taylor fight was last night.Big suprise huh?Anyways how did your treats turn out?

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Ha!! Nobody responded so we bong'd it up for the fight and attempted firecrackers last night...my fiance had some sort of auditory hallucination (he ate most of them) and I just got a really good buzz....I really didn't like the taste of the nutella, even after adding some pnut butter to it, so I only ate about 3/4 of a cookie. And I think next time I'll grind the weed to powder. Even well ground I didn't like the feeling of tiny buds getting stuck in the back of my throat.

But seriously though, I need help from somebody that knows THC cooking ( ;) BOB) and can let me know if using the cannabutter for my blondie recipie should yield positive results. I'm worried due to the temp to make the butterscotch may be too high to use the cannabutter. And how does THC react to carmelizing sugar? Would I come out better just powdering up the batter after the fact, letting it sit and then baking it?

i don't know but thanks for the recipe iv'e been wanting that recipe for awhile now thanks abunch

Hi maryjane

Just a couple of tips that I think you might find useful when cooking with weed:

Firstly, the oven temperature you're proposing to use in this recipe is high for cooking cannabis, 325 degrees Fahrenheit (Roughly 170 degrees centigrade). You need to remember that a considerable proportion of your THC will be vaporised at this temperature, also the length of time it is subjected to this 'high' heat (in this case 50 to 60 minutes) will compound the effect and reduce the strength of your 'cakes' even more.
It is better to cook on a lower heat for slightly longer and retain more active ingredient.

Secondly, and often misunderstood by many cannabis bakers, you need to understand the process by which THC is absorbed into the human body in order to prevent wasted time, effort and most importantly ..weed.
I can provide a more detailed explanation for future projects if you're interested, but in short:

THC itself is NOT water soluble (i.e. it cannot be extracted or broken down in water), therefore simply eating it is pointless as the human body is not able to absorb the active ingredient, however, it will, in fact, bind to fat molecules which can easily be absorbed by the bodies digestive system. Therefore, you must extract your cannabis into a fatty medium before consumption.

The absolute best medium to use is clarified butter (or Ghee as it is called in Asian cooking) as this contains no water molecules, and is almost 100 per cent fat (regular butter will still contain water and other impurities).

I'd recommend following 'BobBong's cannabutter recipe or my own (cooking with hashish tutorial).

Finally, if you do go down the 'Firecracker' route, as you've already discovered, you'll need to grind your weed to as fine a grade as you can manage and make sure it is well mixed into the 'fatty' medium (nutella or peanut butter). Not simply because it's easier to eat, but much more importantly because it will make it easier for the THC molecules to bind to the fat.

N.B. It is worth remembering that a high percentage of your weed will be lost due to the inherent inefficiency of 'Firecracker' conversion, so you'll need to use considerably more weed than you would in normal 'cannabis' cooking, and as for microwaving. . . well, so much of your THC is vaporised in those things you'd be just as well opening the door after the 'ping' and taking several deep breaths.

That's a joke before anyone gives it a go LOL :D

Anyhow, good luck and happy 'baking'!

Thanks Flameon! I think you've come the closest to answering my question. I don't think I'm going to try this recipe since I know the temp for carmelizing the brown sugar is way above 325F. The only other thing I can think of would be to mix some extra butter (canna) in after the batter is made, before baking, and cook for a longer time at a slightly lower temp...dunno, seems kinda complicated tho....

Flameon, the only problem with using clarified butter in a recipe that calls for the normal stuff, is that you'll add WAY too much oil and not enough water (since butter contains some water and proteins and is not 100% oil)

The best way to cook with cannabis is to first select a recipe that calls for oil. Canola, corn, sunflower, olive, it doesn't matter. As long as the recipe itself calls for straight up oil. Unfortunately this limits you a bit, as most (bad for you) baked treats involve butter. Box-mix of brownies calls for oil, which is why brownies are perfect to go hand-in-hand with cannabis :)

Once you have your oil-based recipe, you want to put about 2 cups of water into a medium pot (giggle), and float on top of that the exact amount of oil you need in the recipe. Bring to a boil and add your finely ground cannabis. Cover and let simmer for a couple hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if the level ever gets low. Notice that the oil turns green, while the water turns brown. This is a GOOD THING. The boiling water is essentially 'bong water' if you'll excuse the term, so we want to get rid of it. Using a turkey baster, carefully extract the water from underneath the oil layer. It's OK to leave a little water behind in the interest of keeping all the oil. Once you've removed the water, you should have exactly enough oil to add to your recipe, and it probably has a lot of extracted plant material floating in it. Personally I think it adds to the texture of the product (if you grind it fine enough and boil for ~5 hours, it has a pleasant toothsomeness, and the water took out all the nasty flavours), so I just add the oil plus plant matter to the brownies. Follow the instructions on the box (1 egg, etc), but bake at around 30-50° lower than recommended (like, 275 instead of 325) to limit the vaporization of THC. Check frequently while baking so you don't over-bake it, remember that brownies look underdone when they are ready.

Eat on an empty stomach for full effect, and enjoy! My recipe doesn't add extra salt like cannabutter does, and the brownie texture with a small amount of plant matter is absolutely delicious if you throw in some walnuts and choc chips to supplement the recipe a little. If you use enough weed, it's not too bad for you, because a single brownie (of a dozen batch) should get you flying out of your mind. Honestly, weed goes incredibly well with boxed brownie mix. It's a match made in culinary stoner heaven ;) My suggestion is to save the scratch-made treats for non-cannabis use, because it's nearly impossible to actually make a suitable THC-impregnated butter replacement, only oil.

If you're really set on adding THC to something that doesn't call for oil, or must be heated above 300°F, I suggest making 10x strength cannabis oil. That is, boil more weed with less oil, so you end up with like 1/4 cup of ultra-high-potency oil. Then you can just add a tablespoon to whatever food you want. You could even put it in a dispenser bottle and take it to a restaurant and add a splash to your meal!

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Originally Posted by greenmeanie

Flameon, the only problem with using clarified butter in a recipe that calls for the normal stuff, is that you'll add WAY too much oil and not enough water (since butter contains some water and proteins and is not 100% oil)

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Greenmeanie, you make a valid point.

Just to clarify though, the reason I'm advocating Ghee/clarified butter in this case is simply because it's a far better THC extraction medium than simply using just butter.

For a recipe of this type (and indeed for the majority of cannabis cooking recipes), you should extract the THC First, then add the rest of the ingredients as directed.

For this recipe (as you say) 8tbsp of pure ghee would (perhaps) make it a little too fatty, so bearing in mind that the water content of regular butter is around 15% I'd be inclined to make the equivalent of 7tbsps of cannabutter using ghee first, then simply add 1 tbsp of water to the recipe during the mixing stage to keep the ratios the same.

Greenmeanie

Excellent oil based recipe, and good advice by the way!

There's a couple of things you could do though to further increase the yield and strength of your oil and brownies however,

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Originally Posted by greenmeanie

The best way to cook with cannabis is to first select a recipe that calls for oil. Canola, corn, sunflower, olive, it doesn't matter. As long as the recipe itself calls for straight up oil.

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This is not entirely accurate, as the type of 'fat' used does have a bearing on the strength of the 'baked' goods.

Without getting too technical, the way the human body breaks down and absorbs certain fats differs slightly depending on the type of fat in question.

For example:
Polyunsaturated fats, Monounsaturated fats, Saturated fats & Hydrogenated oils are all processed and metabolized in subtly different ways.

Sadly, saturated fats (the least healthy) generally made from animal products (butter etc) are reported to make the best conductors of THC, whereas canola oil, olive etc are predominately Monounsaturated Fats (still good, but not quite as efficient).

It's a minor point however, and probably wouldn't make too much of a difference.

One thing that would, however, is using a 'double broiler' or 'crock pot' (as they're known in America) when preparing your canna-oil.
The use of a lid firstly removes the need to top up with additional water during the extraction process, but far more importantly, the condensate runs back into the pot, removing (or at least greatly reducing) the loss of any THC due to evaporation/vaporization.

I'd be interested in hearing any other recipes you'd recommend (I absolutely agree with your comments about brownies being a 'match made in culinary stoner heaven').

I'm cooking this afternoon as it happens, by special request, my legendary '8 hour long haul flight' chili-con-canna. It's going to be a great weekend.

Cheers :thumbsup: Flameon

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Originally Posted by nurse maryjane

Ha!! Nobody responded so we bong'd it up for the fight and attempted firecrackers last night...my fiance had some sort of auditory hallucination (he ate most of them) and I just got a really good buzz....I really didn't like the taste of the nutella, even after adding some pnut butter to it, so I only ate about 3/4 of a cookie. And I think next time I'll grind the weed to powder. Even well ground I didn't like the feeling of tiny buds getting stuck in the back of my throat.

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Pulverize the buds in a coffee grinder that is used to grind beans, be sure to get all the precious trichomes out of the grinder, and I do recommend brownies as they complement the green taste better than most anything I've tried to date...

Flameon: I've been experimenting a little recently regarding the saturated vs. unsaturated oils, and I've got some personal experience that backs up everything you said :)

Last weekend I ate a single slice of pizza for dinner, and to finish the meal off I dipped the crust in olive oil spiked with about 1.5g of bud, via the double-boil method. This was at 6PM.
T+1 hour: I was not starting to feel anything, but I wanted to see exactly where it would take me, so I did not join my brother & friends in the smoke session.
T+2 hours: Still not feeling anything, decide to have a drink with everyone else. I had about 2 shots worth, for a minor buzz but nothing crazy. Also had an energy drink.
T+4 hours: Sobered back up from the scotch, and noticed I was starting to come up on the weed high. It was just barely noticeable at first, and 99% body. By the time the alcohol wore off, I was almost completely clear-headed, not giggly.
T+6 hours: Body high starting to plateau into a full-on skin-tingly buzz. Heady high starting to kick in. Shared a cigar to celebrate the end of Ramadan with our Turkish friend.
T+8 hours: Still high and energetic, with no indication of slowing down.
T+10 hours: My mind started to get tired around 4AM, but my body was still stoned out of its skin. I don't enjoy going to bed high, as the skin-tingling effects make it difficult for me to stop tossing and turning. But being ticklish is sometimes fun ;p
T+16 hours: I woke up at 10AM, still about a 6 on a scale of 10 regarding the body high. Mind was totally clear and alert. The gradual comedown left me with a really good Saturday afternoon and evening smoking with friends.

So I think I'm going to have to get some high-saturated coconut oil for my next batch, and see how quickly that hits me :)

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Originally Posted by greenmeanie

I think I'm going to have to get some high-saturated coconut oil for my next batch, and see how quickly that hits me :)

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Hi again Greenmeanie how's it going?

I'm with you totally on the Coconut oil, it really is the way to fly! Especially when used in desserts or sweets (coconut macaroons anyone?) it's generally around 92% saturated fat so really gets that THC into the bloodstream efficiently.

A gram and a half to two grams of decent, finely ground bud mixed with a tablespoon of coconut oil (15 grams) is good for around four doses/portions of highly potent 'rocket fuel' (when simmered in a slow cooker for a couple of hours)!

Expect an intense body high of 7 to 9 hours each (my experience is they'll 'kick in' in around an hour and a half after eating).

I also recommend mixing it with Thai found (the coconut flavour works great!), if you try the ghee (clarified butter) you can stir in anything from Indian, Mexican or even a tin of beans if your feeling lazy!

I just add it to the slow cooker after I've simmered the bud and allow it to gently heat for another 30 minutes. Job done, no effort!