Thanks to the passing of the revised farm bill in 2018 and the legalization of CBD nationwide, CBD edibles have been popping up in eateries everywhere. But, due to strict regulations imposed by the FDA, sales of CBD infused dishes in these establishments are no longer allowed. If you have a sweet tooth and you also want to establish an easy routine of including CBD in your diet, it’s time to don your cooking apron and start whipping up batches of CBD cookies at home.
People are starting to appreciate the benefits of CBD more and more. The cannabis plant contains two compounds: THC and CBD. Marijuana is known for making people feel ‘stoned’ or ‘high’, with symptoms varying from fogginess, lightness, and relaxation, to unpleasant feelings like paranoia and panic. However, it is the THC compound that produces those more intense, psychoactive effects. Unlike THC, CBD on its own doesn’t produce psychoactive or unpleasant effects that would cause you to feel ‘high’, so baking with CBD is not the same as making a batch of hash brownies (where you would use the full hemp plant or hemp seed oil). You will, however, be able to benefit from the many advantages that CBD has to offer, including feeling more relaxed and achieving a better night’s sleep.
How To Start Baking With CBD
In order to be absorbed correctly via the digestive system CBD must be paired with a fat or oil that acts as a carrier to transport it to your bloodstream. The easiest way of doing this is to purchase a full-spectrum CBD tincture that uses coconut oil and dropping it into the mixture you are preparing to bake. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to use, but bear in mind that you need to think about the dose you want to use per serving and then multiply it by the amount of portions the whole mixture makes up.
Here are some common beginners mistakes to avoid when baking with CBD oil.
Baking Temperature Is Too Hot
CBD is not water soluble, so it has a different boiling point to water. Cooking baked goods at anything over 356F puts the pure CBD oil at risk of evaporation meaning your final product will be far less potent than it should be. Where possible, try to find recipes that you can bake at lower temperatures for longer periods of time.
Portion Size
As we briefly mentioned above, it’s important to decide how much CBD oil to add to your recipe by thinking of the mixture in serving sizes rather than an entity. For example, putting 100mg of CBD oil into cookie dough that makes 4 cookies, each cookie will only contain 25mg of CBD, which is fine for some people, but others suffering from more intense symptoms may require something more potent.
Storage
Whether you will be storing CBD oil on its own or you plan on infusing it into some home made nut butter, make sure to store it somewhere that is cool and dark. CBD is both heat and light sensitive, so try to never expose your tincture to excess light or warm conditions for long periods of time.
Choose Wisely
CBD oils are flooding the internet right now and by now you will know that when it comes to online shopping, you can’t always be sure that you are buying from a trusted source. Always make the effort to spend a little bit of time researching good CBD brands and choose full-spectrum cannabidiol oil rather than a CBD isolate. You also want to make sure that no chemicals like ethanol have been used during the extraction process, as you definitely don’t want to be eating traces of toxic substances! Look for organic oils like those made by the popular brand Sunday Scaries that are pesticide-free and have been put through third-party lab testing.
CBD can be incorporated into pretty much any baking recipe, but during the initial experimentation period, start by mixing it into easy recipes like brownies that you already know how to make.
Here are some of our handpicked recipes for baking with CBD oil.
CBD Reese’s Pieces Cups
These delicious CBD infused treats make for the perfect healthy snack!