How to Make Canna-Butter for Brownies and Other Treats

Ahh, yes! The great American Ganja-lover’s past time: Making your own edibles!

When the change of seasons means spending more time at home, wouldn’t a batch of homemade brownies hit the spot? We think so! Turn your box of brownie mix into something “special’ by substituting a portion of the regular butter for infused butter. But don’t limit yourself to brownies: you can infuse infuse pretty much anything!

Decarbing Your Cannabis: Activating the Magic (for Beginners)

HERE’S YOUR SIMPLE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING YOUR OWN CANNABIS BUTTER.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) of butter or margarine

• 1/2 ounce of “decarboxylated” cannabis flower [see the explanation below]. Then use more or less of your decarbed flower to dial in your desired strength. (Yes: you’ll need to experiment a bit. Isn’t that the fun part?)

• 1.5 cups water

Supplies:

Medium saucepan, spatula or wooden spoon, mixing bowl, cheesecloth.

Method:

1.   The first step is decarboxylating (or “decarbing”) your cannabis. Essentially, this activates the cannabinoids in the cannabis so they can be absorbed by your body, giving you that lovely high you enjoy. Without decarbing, you wouldn’t feel this effect.

Preheat your oven to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. Crumble or grind your cannabis, and then spread it evenly on a lined baking sheet. Bake for up to 45 minutes, checking along the way to ensure it is not burning. The resulting color of the cannabis will be a much darker green, verging on golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside. [If you’re going to use some of your decarbed flower in other edibles, you might want to decarb nuggets first and grind afterward to the different sizes you may prefer. Read our companion blog post on decarbing.]

2.   On the stovetop, add your butter and water into a saucepan over low heat. As the butter begins to melt, stir in your decarbed cannabis and bring it to a very light, slow simmer. Cover the pan to keep the mixture from reducing too much, and stir frequently. The slower you go at this stage, the better, simmering for up to 4 hours for maximum potency. Remove pan from heat.

3.   Stretch several layers of cheesecloth over a bowl and pour the butter mixture through to remove any large pieces of cannabis flower. The finer your strain, the better the butter! Being mindful of the high temperature, carefully collect the ends of the cheesecloth and wring out to make sure you get all the butter through. Pour the cooling butter from the bowl into a mold. An ice cube tray works great! Refrigerate or store your butter in thefreezer when everything has solidified. The shelf life will be similar to regular butter.

You’re done! You can use this butter in recipes by replacing a portion of the regular butter with your cannabutter. Let us know what you’ve made in the comments section!