Baked With Old Pal: How to Make Pot Brownies

Who doesn’t love a rich, chewy, chocolatey brownie? Aside from a glass of fresh cold milk, the only thing that can make this experience better is weed. Sure, you could smoke a little before you snack, but why not make a classic pot brownie instead? We invite you to get baked with Old Pal and follow Chef Wendy’s classic pot brownie recipe. But first, a little sweet stoner history lesson.

History of Pot Brownies

Pot brownies are the OG cannabis edible. Chances are they may have even been the first kind you ever tried. That’s not surprising since pot brownies first appeared in a recipe book in 1954 by Alice B. Toklas. Inside the aptly named Alice B. Toklas Cookbook was a recipe for “Haschich Fudge.” The result was more a goo-ball than a brownie, but it popularized the idea of cannabis-infused cooking, and this notion took off. 

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Mary Jane Rathbun (yes, that’s her real name) baked weed brownies for AIDS patients in the Bay Area. She was soon dubbed “Brownie Mary.” She became synonymous with the medical marijuana movement, continually advocating for the medicinal value and feel-good benefits of these beloved pot brownies. Despite multiple arrests, Brownie Mary showed up to her court hearings donning pot-leaf buttons and other pro-pot paraphernalia. 

Her continued cannabis activism challenged California prosecutors. Who wanted to send an elderly woman to jail for helping terminally ill AIDS patients? Mary Jane and her pot brownies helped push the movement forward, leading to the passage of Prop 615 in 1996, legalizing medical marijuana. 

Old Pal’s Pot Brownie Recipe

Weed brownies are broken down into two main steps: making the butter and making the brownies. First, you must infuse butter with THC before you can whip up a tasty batch of THC treats. 

Step One: Weed Butter

What you’ll need:

• 1 French press
• Boiling water to hold the French press
• 1 gram of Old Pal Ready to Roll flower
  • For this recipe, we’re using Old Pal sativa
• 2 sticks of butter

How to decarboxylate your cannabis to activate the THC:

1. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius)
2. Spread the weed onto parchment paper inside a baking pan
3. Put the weed in the oven and bake for 45 minutes

*Note: While your weed is decarbing, boil a pot of water.

Infusing the butter:

1. Add a stick of butter to the French press and put the decarbed weed on top
2. Put the French press into the pot of boiling water and simmer for 45 minutes

Step Two: Making Brownies

What you’ll need:

• ½ cup unsalted Old Pal infused butter, melted hot
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup all-purpose flour

How to make a chocolate ganache:

1. Preheat the oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Press down on the French press to separate the butter from cannabis
3. Measure out ½ cup of butter and pour over chocolate chips inside a bowl
4. Stir and whisk until butter heats up chips and they melt fully
5. Add salt and vanilla extract and stir
6. Set aside

How to make the brownie batter:

1. Mix sugar and brown sugar into a large mixing bowl
2. Whisk in both eggs
3. Beat the sh!t out of the sugar and eggs until fluffy (do it high…we mean on high!)
4. Add the ganache to the batter and beat well
5. Shake flour into the mix with a sifter for a smooth, even blend
6. Stir until flour is perfectly mixed into the batter

Prepare the brownie pan & bake:

1. Using a small amount of the leftover weed butter, grease the bottom of the pan
2. Place a layer of parchment paper in the pan and use the rest of the butter to grease the parchment paper
3. Pour in the bootylicious brown batter and spread it out evenly throughout the pan
4. Bake for 20 minutes
5. Let cool and enjoy!

How to Portion Your Brownies

When you pull the brownies out of the oven, drop the pan a couple of inches above the countertop. As it hits the surface, it will crack slightly on top, leaving those delectable crunchy edges crispy while the center remains chewy. 

As for dosing…everyone has a pot brownie story, and it usually involves eating entirely way too much. So, here’s a good rule of thumb for dosing:

• 1 cup of butter: 1 gram of flower ratio
• THC% of flower you’re using x 100 = total milligrams of THC in your infusion
• 20% THC = a 200 mg pan of brownie goodness

If you followed this recipe exactly, your freshly baked pan of brownies should contain about 100 milligrams of THC. Cut your brownies into nine pieces, and you’ll have a little over 10 mg THC per piece. 

A Snack & a Sip With Your Pals

Life is too short to wait for dessert, and there’s no reason you need to munch alone. The best way to enjoy pot brownies is with your pals. Call up your buds and invite them over for a bit of weed tea and a pot brownie. Put on some good tunes, kick back, and let the good vibes wash over you.