How to Make Cannabis-Infused Gingerbread Cookies

'Tis the season for long nights by the fire, marshmallows melting in your cup of cocoa, and soft gingerbread cookies baking in the oven. What could make this cozy winter feeling even more perfect? Cannabis, of course! Today, we're talking cannabis-infused gingerbread cookies - why to make your own, how to dose them, and the perfect recipe for dunking into milk before you drift into heavenly peace.

Learning how to make cannabis foods is the perfect skill for the season of giving. Not only will you feed your friends and family with a tasty treat, but you will also give them the gift of healing cannabis with these out-of-this-world cookies.

Read on the full cannabis-infused gingerbread cookies recipe.

Why Make Your Own Edibles

Saving money

One of the main reasons to make your own edibles at home is to save money by avoiding the sky-high markups on products at the dispensary. You'll also have to pay the tax of whatever state you're in, which is relatively high in many cities and states around the country. You also get a much larger serving size when you make your edibles at home, meaning you can gift them to friends and family or stash them for yourself. With just a small investment in the bud, you can create a tray of cannabis-infused treats that might turn you into the Martha Stewart of cannabis (though, she also holds that crown in her own right) this holiday season.

Customized Recipes

One of the best parts of making your own edibles at home is being able to customize them to your liking. From marijuana cookie cutters to your favorite add-ins, you can make this tray of elevated treats entirely on your own. Best of all, you can enjoy this treat fresh out of the oven when you make it yourself, not from a package on the shelf.

Dosing

Once you find the sweet spot of dosing your own edibles at home, you'll want to make all of your cookies cannabis-infused! If you're serving guests with various comfort levels around cannabis, microdosing might be a great way to go. If you're looking for a more intense experience, you can also make your cookies super-powered enough to leave you on the couch for the rest of the night.

So, how do you accurately measure the dose of THC per serving size of your edibles? You'll need to know how many grams of flower you have, the THC percentage of the stain you're using, and the decarb rate and extraction efficiency.

Calculating Decarb Rate

When THCA decarboxylates, some of the potency is lost in the process. Depending on your extraction efficiency, your bud can retain up to 90% of the original strength post-decarboxylation, so let's assume that's the case just so we don't underestimate the strength. To calculate that, we must first convert the initial percentage into weight. Let's use 15% THC as an example that means there's 150mg of THCA per 1000mg of cannabis.

Now, we can work out our overall amount of THC based on the amount of cannabis we want to infuse. In this example, let's say you're using 5 grams. For the 15% THCA strain, the calculation is 150mg x 5 = 750mg THCA. After decarboxylation with the assumed efficiency of 90%, you'll multiply that into your total. That gives us 750mg THCA x 0.9 = 675mg THC.

Extraction Efficiency

Now, we must calculate how our extraction process will affect the THC content of our cannabutter. Some estimates say as much as 60% THC is retained, so we'll assume that figure to be cautious. The formula here is 675mg THC x 0.6 extraction rate = 405mg.

THC mg per Serving

Average doses are between 2.5mg and 10mg, but how much THC you want in each gingerbread cookie is up to you. With the 5 grams of 15% THC weed, we end up with cannabutter containing 405 mg of THC. So to work out how to divide the edible, divide 405 into your desired strength (in mg). Here's how it works out:

405/2.5 = 162

405/5 = 81

405/10 = 40.5

So, we can see that if you're after doses with 2.5mg of THC each, you'll get 162 servings; 81 servings for 5mg doses and 40.5 servings for 10mg each.

How to Make Cannabis-Infused Gingerbread Cookies

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Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsalted cannabutter, this recipe is one of our favorites
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Supplies

• Large mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Electric mixer
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters (if you're making small cookies)
• Medium mixing bowl

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Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Add the flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, ginger, and cloves to a large mixing bowl, and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. In a clean bowl, blend the cannabutter and sugar on high with an electric mixer for two minutes.
4. Now add egg, vanilla, molasses, and reduce the speed of the electric mixer to medium. Blend the ingredients for another two minutes.
5. Reduce the speed to low, slowly incorporate all of the flour into the dough.
6. Allow to cool for a couple of hours, then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough.
7. Use any cookie cutter you'd like to cut out your gingerbread shapes.
8. Bake gingerbread cookies for anywhere from 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool.
10. Add all of the icing ingredients to a mixing bowl, and then blend them until smooth.
11. Fill an icing bag and use it to decorate the cookies as you like.
12. Once you're done, the cookies will need at least one hour to harden at room temperature.

Happy Holidays, stay lifted and enjoy!