There’s no time better to make your own cannabis edibles—flower in Michigan is inexpensive right now and there are so many interesting strains to choose from. While we always have many edibles to choose from in our store, sometimes it’s fun to experiment and make your own.

We’re all for people trying new things with cannabis, and in this blog, we’re going to talk about how to make cannabutter, that’s a key ingredient to use in your favorite recipes.

Making your own cannabis edibles starts with good quality flower and flower that works with what you’re cooking. If you’re planning on making cookies, brownies or another sweet treat, stick to a strain that is labeled or named with something that might go well with a baked good—like a gelato, wedding cake or pound cake. You might not want garlic breath x diesel in your cookies. This is where terpene knowledge comes in handy! Ask any of our budtenders about our options and what terpenes are most favorable to what you’re cooking.

We used Lilac Diesel from RealLeaf Solutions.

Here’s a simple step-by-step method to make cannabutter for your edibles. And keep in mind, you don’t have to make sweets. You can use cannabutter in any cooking recipe. Just keep an eye on the THC level and how you distribute the butter.

While making cannabutter isn’t hard, it requires attention to detail, so it might be best to do this when you’re focused—if you know what we mean!

First, you’ll need to de-carb the cannabis—doing what you’d do if you were smoking cannabis, but at a lower heat. And keep in mind that decarbing (or bringing the cannabis to temp to activate the THC) happens a few times when you’re cooking, so don’t overdo it at any stage.

Supply List

Supplies needed to make cannabutter:

• 2 grams of high-quality cannabis 
• A stick or two of high-quality unsalted butter. Make cannabutter with what you need for your recipe. Most baking recipes call for a stick (½ cup) of butter or more.
• Baking pan
• Parchment paper and foil
• Small saucepan and a pan that fits or floats over it, as in a double boiler
• Candy thermometer
• Fine mesh strainer 
• Grinder
• Storage container or bowl
• Wooden chopstick for stirring

Bake it!

• Preheat your oven to 245 degrees
• Place the cannabis on the parchment paper and break the buds up slightly. Next, fold the parchment to enclose the cannabis and wrap it in foil, sealing it into a little package.
• Place it in the baking pan and into the oven, and set your timer for 25 minutes. The longer the cannabis flower bakes, the more potent it’ll be, but keep in mind for the first time doing this, you don’t want it to be too concentrated or ruined by over-baking.
• After 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and the packet from the pan and let it cool. When cooled, grind the weed a bit, not too fine and not too chunky.

Infuse the Butter

Place the butter and ¼ cup of water in a heavy saucepan or double-boiler and add your cannabis. Set the heat to low. Use the chopstick to stir once it’s melting. Some recipes call for longer infusions, but it isn’t necessary. A short infusion of about an hour will do the job, and your butter will be less grassy-tasting. Keep a candy thermometer on hand to make sure the butter stays below 190 degrees as it infuses—check it every 15 minutes or so. Don’t wander away too far. You want to keep an eye on the butter during this step.

After an hour, remove the butter-water from the pan and send it through the mesh strainer and into a bowl or storage container. Pop that into the fridge—once it’s cooled and the butter has set, poke a hole in the butter and pour off the water, and voila, you have cannabutter!

You’ll need to use the cannabutter within two weeks, as it doesn’t keep as long as plain butter. You can freeze it if needed.

How Much THC and How to Dose

One of the best parts of store-bought edibles is that you know the dosage you’re getting. With homemade, it’s trickier.

Here’s a rule of thumb: two grams of 15 percent THC cannabis will make ABOUT 150 mg of THC-infused butter. 

Also, much of the flower we have at Pharmhouse is more potent than 15 percent, so if you want to be careful, ask the budtender for some of the lower THC flower we carry.

When you’re making your recipe—cookies, for example— and the recipe calls for two sticks of butter and makes 24 cookies, you’ll can incorporate one stick of regular butter and the infused butter together or infuse two sticks of butter at the outset. As you can’t lab test your cannabutter and know for sure how much THC the final product contains, you can do a bit of an estimate with the recipe for butter we’ve provided you’ll have ABOUT 10mg of THC in each cookie.

Again, this is an estimate, so eat with caution and remember, if you don’t feel any effect wait at least an hour before having seconds. 

You can use cannabutter in any recipe that calls for butter, though avoid anything that calls for high heat (over 375 degrees) as that will affect the potency and flavor. 

If making cannabutter isn’t your thing, you can use RSO or cannabis distillate in your cooking, but keep in mind the potency is much greater, so use less and pay attention to the milligram notes on the sticker, and both distillate and RSO requires lots of stirring to get it fully incorporated as the products are very sticky.

Try This Cannabis Edible Recipe

CANNABIS-INFUSED OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

MAKES 20 COOKIES

• 1 stick of cannabutter softened
• ½ cup of white sugar
• ½ cup of brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups of oatmeal
• ½ to ¾ cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cream the cannabutter and sugars, add the egg and vanilla and mix. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mike Add oatmeal and chocolate chips and mix.

Drop by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool and enjoy!