Happy 4/20! Here’s a Basic Cannabutter Recipe for All Your Baked Needs

This is a different kind of 4/20. For a second year in a row, the pesky pandemic has decimated the celebration vibe. There are no plumes of sweet skunk billowing over Golden Gate Park, no baked masses huddled together on hills and there’s definitely no passing to strangers.

Weed has always maintained a sharing-is-caring culture, but sharing of the germs is just not cool right now. 

This year’s holiday is even weirder than it was in the dastardly 2020, and not in a good way. The thick cloud hanging above today is not the one we’re used to wading through on 4/20. Today’s cloud is somber and thick with anxiety spilling over from Minnesota.

Still, the point of this holiday is to revel and appreciate joys and relief cannabis can bestow on us, and those are things we could all probably use a little more of today.

So, with that in mind, we suggest today is a great time to tackle the cannabutter beast so you can infuse all your favorite goods in the comfort and safety of your own home.

A whole world of baked goods awaits after you master the cannabutter recipe. (Photo by Margo Amala/Unsplash)

Bake to get baked

A lot of weed-infused nosh starts with the basic butter base. Here’s a crockpot cannabutter recipe you can let simmer while you do something chill and creative — make some art or invest a couple hours in the “Wizard of Oz” meets Pink Floyd endeavor.       

Here’s a simple step-by-step ripped from Emily Kyle:

Start with unsalted butter, preferably Kerrygold for its high fat content, and raw flower (give it a rough grind) of your choosing. The ratio should be 1:1, think 1 cup of butter to 1 cup of flower. 

1. Decarb the bud in the oven at 240 degrees for 40 minutes — this cuts your cooking time in half.
2. Mix butter and flower and allow them to infuse over low heat in a slow cooker — a stovetop will work, but be careful not to let the heat get out of control.
3. Allow to fully cool, letting the butter harden and solidify on the top.
4. Drain off/strain excess water and the small particles (milk solids) that will collect below the butter.
5. Pour into in a new mason jar, strained through cheesecloth to catch the chunks.

More detailed instructions and variations can be found on Emily’s website here.   

Once you have the butter squared away, you can dig into the plethora of cannabis-infused recipes like citrus-caramel blondies or chocolate oatmeal bars. 

Baked baking is the perfect way to kill two comfort birds with one stone. We wish you all the best of nugs n’ nosh, bongs and biscuits. Happy holiday!