Baked goodies and cannabis have gone hand in hand for years. We’ve all got a friend that went to Amsterdam and ate too many ‘space cakes’ or whose Dad accidentally picked up a ‘special’ brownie that they had made in their teens and didn’t stop giggling the whole afternoon…
These might be urban legends, or they might not. But whether these stories are true or not, it seems that cannabis lends itself particularly well to baked food like brownies, biscuits, cakes and muffins. Of course, back in the day, many people consumed these tasty treats as a novel, fun and effective way to get high, but now things have changed a bit.
CBD and Hemp
Thanks to increased research into the plant, we are now beginning to understand better about how cannabis and cannabis-derived products are more than just about getting high. In fact, for a lot of people, there is no ‘getting high’ involved, due to the fact that they are taking CBD (cannabidiol) – one of the compounds in the cannabis plant which won’t make you high.
There are over 100 significant compounds found naturally in the plant, including CBD and THC. THC is the compound which will make you high, but that is present in such low quantities in the hemp plant (a variety of cannabis) that it won’t make you feel stoned. This means that if you make hemp muffins – or any other ‘hemp-infused’ food, you will get the health benefits from CBD, without the THC-induced high.
You can find out more about how CBD can affect you and your body here.
There are, of course, a variety of ways that you can take CBD, but one of the most fun and accessible is through edibles. And, let’s face it, of all the things that you could eat, muffins are one of the best.
So, here is a recipe for how to make delicious hemp muffins – which are tasty, can give you the benefits of CBD and not make you high. Perfect!
To make Hemp Muffins
The first thing that you should consider, is what your source of the CBD is. Most commonly you might have a CBD oil, soluble isolate powder or you might have hemp flowers or raw material. We’ll come back to CBD oil and isolate powder in a bit, but first let’s deal with the flowers.
If you have your hemp still in ‘plant’ form, the most important thing that you must do first with it is called decarboxylation. This means that you need to activate the compounds in the plant material (the CBD) – otherwise they will have little to no effect. It is the reason why just eating the leaves of the hemp plant won’t do too much for you. This is why people originally smoked or vaped their cannabis – the process of heating it up decarboxylates it, making the cannabinoids more effective.
Some people have a decarboxylator which can give the most effective decarboxylation. However, you can also do it in your oven at home if you don’t have one.
To decarboxylate your hemp, first, preheat your oven to between 100°C and 150°C.
Then line a baking tray with some baking paper and break up your hemp into relatively small pieces and spread them over the baking tray.
Now bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until it is dried out completely (but not burnt!).
Once that it is totally dried out, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool down.
You now have a couple of options. You can either grind it down and add the hemp to your batter as it is, or you can infuse it into an oil and use this in your batter. If you decide to grind it down into a powder like consistency it is worth remembering that it will finely distribute the plant through the batter, making the taste of hemp come through stronger.
CBD Oil
Some people prefer to create a CBD oil or butter which can be used in cooking. As muffins don’t use butter in the recipe, oil it is. Incidentally, CBD butter – or Cannabutter as it is often referred – to is made the same way as the oil, but you need to melt the butter down beforehand and cool it afterwards to turn back into a solid.
To make CBD infused oil, you first need to decide on which oil you’d like – for muffins, olive oil or coconut are good options.
Add your hemp to a pan with half oil of your choosing, and half water and then heat it up. Stir it constantly at first and gradually turn up the heat. The ideal temperature for infusing CBD is around 94°C, so as soon as it looks like the water is beginning to boil, try to maintain it at this temperature.
Keep stirring and cook it for about 30 minutes or until it looks like most of the water has evaporated away.
Once you have finished infusing, take it off the heat and leave it to cool before pouring it into a suitable container. You are now ready to use your hemp infused oil!
Hemp Muffins
To make 12 basic hemp muffins (each with one dose of CBD)
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 120ml milk
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 12 x doses CBD oil, CBD isolate powder or ground hemp
- 200g plain flour
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
Preparation: 10 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Ready: 45 minutes
- Preheat your oven to 200°C (Gas Mark 6).
- Set out your paper cases or grease a muffin tray.
- Mix together the milk, vegetable oil and CBD oil or powder until it is fully dissolved.
- Beat in the egg to this mixture and set aside.
- In a separate bowl sift the flour and then add the sugar, baking powder and salt (and ground hemp if you prefer this method).
- Stir in the liquid mixture to the dry mixture until it is mixed in, but still lumpy.
- At this point, you can add any additional flavourings that you wish.
- Fill each case about 2/3 full and bake for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
- Leave to cool before eating.
Whether you enjoy a lemon, blueberry, raisin or orange muffin, you have the flexibility to add whatever ingredients you prefer for a delicious treat.
It is important to remember to thoroughly mix in your CBD or hemp to ensure that you get an even distribution. This way you can rest assured that you will get the most accurate dose per muffin. Be sure not to over-heat your oven, otherwise, some of the cannabinoids in your goodies could be burnt off.
It is also important that you make people aware that these are not just ‘regular’ muffins. You don’t want people sneaking a bite of them and inadvertently consuming CBD without them knowing it.
Although CBD is safe to use and won’t make you high. It can affect the way that certain medications are processed in the body. This is why it is important that people are made aware of its inclusion in your muffins, as well as being the reason why it is vital that if you are trying CBD for the first time and are taking medication, you speak to your doctor about it first.
CBD muffins are a fun and delicious way to get your daily CBD dose, and once that you have your CBD infused oil, you can experiment with a whole range of other cooking as well.