DIY: CannaButter

We’ve all been there. You walk into a party and someone’s whipped up a batch of special brownies. You excitedly grab one and take bite only to find the fudgy goodness you were expecting replaced by the taste of dried leaves and chocolate syrup. Don’t lie. This is the stuff of nightmares and it probably happened because your baker friend, let’s call him Brian, isn’t a very good chef. Now what Brian probably did is take an ounce of low-quality kush and mix it into a box of brownie mix, creating a dry, barely palatable rendition of the delicious chocolate squares your grandma used to make.

Sure, these trash rectangles will get you stoned beyond belief, but Brian forgot one essential thing. Marijuana does not taste good. Of course, most seasoned smokers have no problem with the slight aftertaste of a hit from a joint, and the smell–probably more because of association than actual enjoyment–is often described as pleasant, but this is far from an endorsement of marijuana’s flavor profile. Don’t get too mad at Brian. Marijuana, great for so many things, falls flat as an ingredient. Its musk is extremely pungent and it has a tendency to muddle the flavors you actually want to taste. You know, like chocolate. It’s not Brian’s fault he failed. Braver chefs than him have never successfully climbed that mountain.

But what if there were another way to make pot brownies?

Meet cannabutter, a marijuana-infused butter substitute that will make all of your edible dreams come true. Just substitute regular butter for this genius invention, and you can turn just about any baked good into something that’ll get you stoned. Invented by JeffThe420Chef aka the “Julia Child of Weed,” this light-tasting ingredient will help you make edibles that actually taste good. But how’s it made?

Items You Will Need:

• Heat-resistant glass dish

• Tea strainer

• Distilled water

• Small tupperware container

• Aluminum foil

• Medium sized saucepan

• Coffee filter

Ingredients:

1 pound of unsalted butter (or salted, if your prefer)

1 ounce of marijuana (many people choose to use lower quality product for this step)

1 cup of water

Step 1: Wash The Flower

Pour distilled water in a large mixing bowl and add the cannabis you will be using to make the butter

Step 1: Wash The Flower

Step 2: Blanch The Flower

For this step, you will need to grab the tea strainer and fill it with the prepared flower. Once you have it in the strainer, place the strainer in the pot of boiling water for five minutes. Once the five minutes is up, remove the strainer from the bowl and place it in another bowl filled with ice for one minute.

Step 2: Blanch The Flower

Step 3: Rinse The Flower

Take distilled water and use it to rinse the flower. Once you are finished, carefully lay it on a paper towel to dry

Step 3: Rinse The Flower

Step 4: Decarboxylate The Flower

Take your pyrex dish and spread the flower evenly over the surface as thin as possible, then cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place the dish in the over at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

Step 4: Decarboxylate The Flower

Step 5: Infuse Butter With Flower

Use your medium sauce pan to melt the butter, and then add a cup of water to the pan while slowly adding the recently decarboxylated flower. This is the longest step of the process. Next you are going to bring the butter to a simmer and let it sit for at least 3 hours (some people choose to go as long as 12 hours). However, make sure that the butter does not come to a boil as the THC could end up being burned off from the high heat.

Step 5: Infuse The Butter With Flower

Step 6: Strain and Refrigerate

Use a coffee filter to remove any plant material from the butter, while pouring the mixture into a tupperware container. Once you have strained all of the butter, place the lid on the container and put it in the fridge. The butter will be ready once it has hardened and looks like actual butter. You will be able to tell when it is ready just by looking at it.

Now that you’ve finished and have one pound of cannabutter, you’re ready to make a whole lot of truly delicious pot brownies. Here’s the good news: you can choose any brownie recipe you’d like. Just substitute your cannabutter for the butter in the recipe!

We are going to periodically reference this recipe when we post other edibles to the site, so if you are planning to follow along with us and try your hand at DIY edibles, bookmark this page!

Look out for our next recipe, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, coming next week on FindKarma.