Sooner or later, everyone tests a cannabis brownie. You’ve never had one you didn’t like, but some are better than others. With purchasing and growing legalized in more states, homebodies are free to publish fresh new recipes.

This beginner’s guide tries to highlight some twists on the old-school cannabis brownie. It also tries to compensate for some of the mistakes too many amateur cooks make in the kitchen. These recipes avoid the dry, brittle, and flakey results you too often encounter—even though you’ll continue to consume them rather than waste the main ingredient.

Getting ready:

Setup #1: You will need some cannabutter or cannabis-infused oil. Most recipes call for one or the other.

Setup #2: Any recipe calls for equipment and ingredients. Classically-trained chefs prepare everything they need and lay it out with easy access and in order of use. It’s called mise en place. It just makes things easier when everything is in its place.

Setup #3: You must know the chemical makeup of the cannabis you use. The percentage of THC and CBD determines the potency of your brownie, something you should disclose to those you serve with your treat.

You should convert the among of ground cannabis and convert it into milligrams. If you divide the milligrams by the number of servings, you’ll have the dose per serving. If you start with a 10% THC strain, the results should approach 10% per brownie. But, that could be too much for first-time users. You might cut the cannabis enough to shoot for a 5% dose.

Making better brownies in five steps:

Step #1: Assemble your equipment. You’ll need a whisk, plastic bowl, metal rack, spatula, and stainless-steel baking pan, pretty much what you would use to make brownies from scratch.

Step #2: Arrange the ingredients conveniently, placing the proper amounts in the order you’ll need them.

1 stick (4-ounces) of cannabutter

1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons of water

1 pinch of salt

1/3 rounded cup of flour

Chocolate, caramel, or butterscotch topping

Step #2: Preheat your convection oven to 325°F. While waiting for one to heat, you must grease your baking pan generously with regular butter to prevent sticking.

Step #3: Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, water, vanilla, and salt in your mixing bowl.

Step #4: Add each of the two eggs one at a time using whisking them thoroughly into the mix. Continue whisking for three minutes as you add the flour.

Step #5: Pour the mixture into a greased pan so it settles evenly. The brownie mixture will bake for 20 to 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can test for doneness pressing a toothpick into the mixture until it removes clean. When they’re ready, you use a spatula to cut the brownies in a grid, remove them from pan, and set them on the wire rack to cool.

Once have cooled to warm, you can add toppings to your taste. There are bottled and jarred toppings in the supermarket you can spread across the top.

Doing something different

You can use this recipe substituting almond extract for the vanilla. You can add to the chocolate flavor with semi-sweet chocolate chips or toffee pieces or you can add four-ounces of baking chocolate.

You can correct dryness by increasing the unsalted regular butter content. And, you can make gluten-free brownies by replacing the regular flour with almond flour.

Before the mixture bakes, you can create designs by running a fine edge knife in patterns through the mix. And, with some experience and good recipes, you can layer the brownies with mint filling, cheesecake toppings, and white chocolate.

Choosing the best strain

All recipes come down to the quality of the ingredients. So, you want to pick the best strain for your baking plans, you need to know the cannabinoid ratio, and you want the strain best-suited for medical patients’ needs.

Headband Cake is a classic Indica hybrid descended from OG Kush, Master Kush, and Sour Diesel. The THC rates between 20% and 27% making it a potent starting point with sedative qualities that treat mild anxiety, chronic insomnia, and decreased appetite.

Red Roy crosses Lee Roy and Red Haze for a sativa-dominant hybrid used to relieve PTSD, ADD, and chronic stress. With a 24% to 26% THC, it produces a cerebral high to energize and focus your work.

Viper Cookies is a THC-loaded Indica-dominant strain crossing Viper City and Forum Cookies for a sweet, fruity, and spicy result. Best used at evening, its sedative properties should help with anxiety, depression, and stress.

White Tahoe Cookies Is a 70% sativa-dominant hybrid with a whopping 29% THC content. Breeders crossed The White with Tahoe OG for a sweet fruit and herb flavor. It produces a quick euphoric high that moves toward a lulling sleep helpful for people suffering from chronic pain, inflammation, and nausea.

Cookie Wreck (Cookie Trainwreck) is a perfect balance of Indica and sativa crossing Girl Scout Cookies with Trainwreck. It’s delicious and mind-melting starting for a euphoric rush boosting mood and settling into deep introspection. The 2% to 4% CBD offsets the high THC content for treating chronic pain, migraines, and sleep disorders. It comes with a sweet vanilla flavor and nutty aftertaste to enhance your brownie recipe.

Making tasty cannabis brownies

All mothers and grandmothers have a favorite recipe for making brownies. We can all remember chocolate smells wafting from the kitchen. And, the basic cannabis cookie receipt does not vary much from those handed down for generations.

Once you have mastered the basic recipe, you can fiddle with fixing the moisture, flavor intensity, and sweetness. Then, you can experiment with more sophisticated recipes and toppings.

Still, you must select your cannabis strain with the dosage in mind and advise your guests not to have more than one without waiting for the first to wear off.