The Best Cannabis Seed Infused Lamingtons in Australia

The Best Cannabis Seed Infused Lamingtons in Australia

This is about the most Australian cake you can get. Across the whole country people just love lamingtons.

You'll find these scrumptious squares or sometimes rectangles at pretty much every bakery in Australia. They are also a favourite at school fetes and community markets.

Essentially, a lamington is a butter sponge cake that has been dipped in icing and coated in coconut flakes.

There is often controversy about whether to add jam and cream or not to lamingtons. It is worthwhile to note that the original recipes did not have jam or cream, but many people do enjoy them more with those fillings in the centre.

In the traditional sense, lamingtons do not contain cannabis seeds or hemp seeds, and they are not infused with cannabutter.

However, there are variations that are coated in nuts of different sorts and coating them with a mixture of cannabis seeds and desiccated coconut is a nice variation.

The Ingredients

For the butter sponge cake:

125 g / 4.5 oz softened unsalted butter or cannabutter

1 cup (220g) caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs at room temperature

1 3/4 cups (260g) sifted plain flour

3.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk (low or full fat)

For the icing:

4 cups (480g) sifted icing sugar

1/3 cup (22g) cocoa powder

1 tbsp (15g) unsalted butter or cannabutter

150ml (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) boiling water

For the coating:

3 - 4 cups desiccated coconut

1 cup unhulled cannabis seeds (optional - and if using, reduce desiccated coconut quantity by 1 cup)

For the optional jam and cream filling:

Strawberry jam

1 cup (250ml) cream

1 tbsp white sugar

The Cooking Method

To make the butter sponge cake:

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F (or fan forced 160C/320F).

Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl.

Grease a 20 cm x 30 cm / 8" x 12" cake pan and line with baking paper (parchment paper), leaving an overhang on all sides (to make it easy to remove).

Combine and beat the butter or cannabutter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy - that should take about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition so the batter is completely smooth without any sign of curdling

Add half the flour and gently mix to combine, then stir in half the milk. Repeat this step with the flour and milk that is left

Pour out the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, moist but with no residue.

Stand for 5 minutes then use the overhang baking paper to lift the cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely down to room temperature.

Getting the cake ready to coat:

Once the cake is cool, cut it into your desired shapes and sizes, usually squares or rectangles.

The size is entirely up to you but it's worthwhile to note that they can break if you make the pieces too big.

Once you've cut the cake into the pieces you like, freeze the cake for around 2 hours as this makes it a lot easier to coat in the icing later.

Make the icing:

Put all the icing ingredients into a bowl and mix them thoroughly. The mixture should be smooth and lump free but be careful not to overdo it and make the mixture too thin and runny. The icing mixture should be thick like golden syrup.

Make the individual iced and coated lamingtons:

Put the desiccated coconut into a separate large bowl. Optional - if you are going to coat with cannabis seeds, now is the time to put them into the same bowl.

Get a lamington piece that you have cut and dip the piece into the icing bowl using a small set of tongs or two forks. Let the piece get coated well and then let any excess drain back into the icing bowl as you lift the piece out. Briskly bring the coated piece into the bowl containing the coconut and the optional cannabis seeds. Obtain an even coating of the cake and then set the cake aside on a tray for the icing to set. Repeat the process with the remaining cake pieces. Let the coated pieces set for at least two hours prior to serving.

Making the individual iced and coated lamingtons with the optional jam and cream centre:

Follow the process above to make the individual lamingtons. To make the cream mixture, take the cream and sugar and mix well until peaked firmly. Cut the prepared lamingtons in half and fill centres with adequate amounts of jam and cream to your choosing. Remember to refrigerate these promptly in an airtight container.

If you have used cannabutter be sure to sample a small piece of a single lamington to determine how strong it is, before proceeding to eat the rest. It's a good idea to wait around 60 minutes after eating a small piece to determine how much you should eat.

Enjoy responsibly!

The Best Cannabis Seed Infused ANZAC Biscuits in Australia

The Best Cannabis Seed Infused ANZAC Biscuits in Australia

Before we get to the recipe, let's make it clear that in Australia these are referred to as ANZAC "biscuits" not ANZAC Cookies.

The earliest known ANZAC biscuits were produced in 1916 at the time of the first world war. Australian soldiers serving overseas would receive home baked ANZAC biscuits sent to them from their wives, mothers and others.

The original recipe does not contain cannabis seeds or hemp seeds however there are many variations on homemade ANZAC biscuit recipes, and we think that adding some cannabis seeds makes this ANZAC recipe one of the most unique in Australia.

The original recipe does not contain cannabutter and uses standard unsalted butter.

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour (all-purpose flour)

1 cup rolled oats (optional: use 4/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup hulled or unhulled cannabis seeds)

1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut

3/4 cup fine white sugar

150g / 5oz unsalted butter (or cannabutter if you prefer)

4 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate soda)

Note: If you are outside Australia, you may not be able to get golden syrup easily. In that situation it is best to use a combination of treacle, honey and corn syrup, 2tbsp of treacle and 1tbsp each of the honey and corn syrup, to substitute for the golden syrup.

Cooking Method

• Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan forced)

• Grab two baking trays and line them with baking paper.

• Mix flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.  (and optional cannabis seeds)

• Place butter (or cannabutter) and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium high heat and stir until butter has melted. Make sure you keep a close eye on the temperature and don't allow the mixture to scald of burn

• Add baking soda and stir to mix - it will bubble up; this is perfectly normal and expected. Immediately remove the mixture from heat.

• Pour butter mixture into flour and mix well until combined evenly.

• Roll the butter mixture into balls in your palm, flatten into biscuit shaped discs. Place discs, 2.5 cm/1" apart, on prepared trays.

• Bake for 15 minutes to 20 minutes maximum. The baking trays can be turned around halfway during the cooking time. If you prefer chewy biscuits then bake for around 12 minutes maximum

• Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Consumption and Storage

Once cooled, transfer your biscuits into air tight and opaque containers. The biscuits will keep at room temperature for a couple of weeks although its best to put them in the fridge if you intend to eat them over a longer period. They can also be frozen.

If you have used cannabutter in your biscuits, ensure you know the strength of the biscuits before eating too many at one time.

The biscuits are a great anytime snack and are a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.

Australian Cannabutter Recipe

Australian Cannabutter Recipe

Before we get into the details of the Australian Cannabutter Recipe let's do a deep dive into what cannabutter is. If you'd like to cut to the chase you can click here to jump right to the recipe.

What is "Cannabutter" ?

In the simplest of terms, "cannabutter" is butter infused with the active ingredients from the cannabis plant. These active ingredients are usually the active cannabinoids that are contained in the plant matter.

Where did the term "cannabutter" come from?

The term "cannabutter" has been around perhaps since the 1980's.

However it is important to note that the concept of infusing cannabis into a carrier lipid or solvent, has been around for much longer than the term "cannabutter"

For instance, in parts of Asia it has been common throughout history to infuse ghee with cannabis and use that as an ingredient in the preparation of other dishes.

Can you use any cannabis plant matter to prepare cannabutter?

The short answer is no. For instance, cannabis has two sexes and the highest quality cannabutter is made from the mature flowering tops of the female cannabis plant.

Typically, cannabutter made from leaves or male flowers will not be as potent as what is made from the flowering tops of female cannabis plants.

The quality female cannabis plants depends mostly on high quality genetics. To make the best cannabutter in Australia you first want to start with the best cannabis seeds in Australia.

Cannabutter can also be made from dry sift, bubble hash, rosin, rosin chips and we will go through some details on each of these so you can decide which one of these suits your situation.

Cannabutter using dry sift or bubble hash - how much do you use?

This isn't an easy question to answer as it depends on the quality of the input ingredients. For instance, there can be different grades of dry sift or bubble hash based on different levels of micron filters used in the extraction process.

As a general guideline, you would use 1 to 15 grams of decarbed dry sift or bubble hash per 100 grams of butter depending on the potency of the input material and your desired potency of the butter you want to make.

What about making cannabutter from rosin or rosin chips?

Similar to dry sift or bubble hash, the exact amount to use is determined by the quality of the input ingredients.

Cannabis flower rosin can be quite potent and therefore it could be between 1 to 10 grams of decarbed rosin per hundred grams of butter, depending on the potency of the input rosin and the desired potency of the butter.

If the rosin is made from bubble hash then the amount used is a lot less and typically you would not need more than 5g per 100g of butter using decarbed high quality hash rosin.

Rosin chips are the left-over slabs of crushed flower or bubble hash after they have been through a rosin press and most of the active ingredients have been removed.

It's very difficult to ascertain exactly how many chips to use as there are many variables as to how much active ingredient content is left in the individual chips.

As a rule though, it's best to remove the chips from the rosin bags and if it is flower then you would perhaps use around 60g of decarbed chips per 100g of butter, subject to quality of input material and the desired level of output potency.

If the rosin chips are bubble hash rosin chips then 20 to 30 grams of decarbed bubble hash rosin chips can be used per 100g of butter dependent on the quality of the input material and the desired level of output potency.

What about decarbing? What is it and do I have to do it?

Decarbing is converting the active ingredients in the plant matter or extract into a form that is "active" so that it can be better absorbed by the digestive system and better utilized by the endocannabinoid system present in humans.

Most people decarb their input material before using it as an ingredient in any infusion such as cannabutter.

Some people will tell you that decarbing is mandatory and others will tell you that decarbing is optional as the process to infuse cannabutter itself applies heat over a period of time, as does using the infused cannabutter when in baked in recipes where it is used as an ingredient.

It can be said it is a personal choice.

To decarb flower the temperature is 115 degrees Celsius however that can change depending on the strain and desired outcome.

The time is around 30 minutes in the oven on baking paper in a flat tray. It can take longer or shorter depending on the quality of the material and the desired results.

With bubble hash or dry sift, the temperature is the same but the time taken needs careful monitoring as typically the volume of the product being decarbed is significantly less than if it was flower.

With rosin, its best to decarb between 105 to 120 degrees Celsius and the time is usually a minimum of 30 minutes, again dependent on the volume and quality of the input material and the desired outcome. Depending on the volume of rosin to be decarbed you may choose to do that in a rosin press using a decarb capsule or using a glass jar in an oven.

Let's Get to This Australian Cannabutter Recipe

Before we start, its important to know that as this recipe covers making cannabutter using a variety of input materials, it is important that any cannabutter made using this recipe is tested in a small amount before using it as an ingredient in any other recipes such as cookies or brownies etc.

The Process

As described above, the first step is to decarb your input material if you choose to do so.

Proceed to preheat your oven and use one of methods described above to decarb your input material.

Keep checking the material throughout the decarb process and ensure it does not burn.

Making the Cannabutter

This part of the process takes a lot more time and attention. This is because to make a quality infusion, it takes time.

Some people infuse for as little as an hour while others infuse for 4 to 6 hours.

It depends on the quality of the material and the level of potency desired in the cannabutter produced.

As a rule, the longer the infusion time the more potent the cannabutter can be.

A good guideline is to use a 4 hour infusion time.

It's also worthwhile to note that it is best to use unsalted butter so that you can more easily control the salt level in any dishes that you use the cannabutter in later.

This process does not need a double boiler set up. What this recipe uses, is additional water to stop the butter from burning. By cooling the cannabutter later we can drain any left over water easily.

So let's get started.

You need:

100g unsalted and clarified butter

2 cups of water

Medium saucepan

Wooden or heat proof spoon (not metal)

Thermometer

Cheesecloth or micron mesh strainer

Container to store the cannabutter (pro tip - a jug with a lid and pourer is useful to strain any leftover water easily)

The steps:

1. Put the saucepan on LOW HEAT and add the water and butter

2. Wait for the butter to fully melt

3. Add the amount of decarbed or non decarbed cannabis material that you desire

4. For a uniquely Australian twist, consider adding dried quandongs, Davidson Plum, Riberry, Kutjera, Muntries or even Finger Limes

5. Mix everything very well using the wooden spoon

6. Simmer carefully on LOW HEAT for 4 hours

7. Ensure that you stir the mixture every 20 to 30 minutes throughout and measure the temperature of the mixture

8. Don't ever let the temperature go over 80 degrees Celsius

9. Once the infusion time is over, strain the mixture into a container using a cheesecloth or micron mesh strainer

10. Allow the mixture to cool in a fridge so that the cannabutter and water separate

11. If there is any water left once the cannabutter is solidified, drain that water away before putting the cannabutter into storage for later use

    
    

How to use the Cannabutter

Cannabutter is used to substitute butter in any recipe that requires it. It could be cheesecake, it could be biscuits, fudge, brownies.

You could also use cannabutter in savory dishes or dips.

If you'd like to use it in salad dressings that is also possible, just dilute a teaspoon of cannabutter into some virgin olive oil and then make your salad dressing just like you normally do.

Keep an eye on our blog as we will have several recipes that use cannabutter in the near future.