In the Kitchen with CBD – The Joy of Cooking and Baking with CBD Oil

The results of a 2019 Gallup poll reflected that one in seven Americans said they personally use cannabdiol- (CBD-) based products on a regular basis and 64 million of them had at least tried it in the prior 24 months.  In another more recent study, SingleCare reported that of the Americans who use CBD, the most common uses are for pain relief (64%),  anxiety (49%) and insomnia (42%). 

Interested in incorporating CBD into your health and wellness regimen, but not sure how?  Some wonder whether you can cook or bake with CBD oil – the answer is unequivocally YES!

CBD oil is a fantastic all-natural ingredient that can be used in homemade foods and beverages.  In fact, home cooks and bakers can find a plethora of delicious recipes online for introducing CBD oil into everything from compound butters, smoothies and soups to cookies, sauteed veggies and salad dressings. 

Baking with hemp-derived CBD oil, in particular, is proving hugely popular for a variety of important reasons.  Keep on reading to discover the many benefits of baking with CBD and how to ensure your homemade CBD creations are both delicious and nutritious.

The Benefits of Cooking and Baking with CBD

The best part of using CBD in homemade meals and desserts is you can control CBD dosage and ensure the quality of ingredients you are using in your recipe.  Alternatively, many pre-made, pre-packaged CBD edibles may include not-so-heathy ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, artificial food dyes or a load of unnecessary sugar. 

Additional benefits of home cooking and baking with CBD include:

• Longer-lasting CBD effects: although the effects of CBD in edibles may take longer to feel when consumed, they are known to last much longer. When CBD is consumed as an edible, CBD is released slowly into the system as it is digested, lasting up to two to four hours longer than other types of CBD products. 

• CBD is non-psychoactive: because hemp-derived CBD oils legal for sale in the U.S. are required to contain less than 0.3% THC, consumption affords all the health and wellness benefits of the CBD without the “high” or intoxicating feeling often associated with edibles containing cannabis.

So, if you are looking to enjoy a CBD treat, you will be better off making it yourself.  Here is everything you need to know about how to cook and bake with CBD. It should be noted that while CBD is widely viewed to be generally safe to consume, it is always advisable to first talk to your doctor before introducing CBD into your diet.

How to Cook and Bake with CBD Oil

When cooking or baking with CBD oil, you should consider:

• Concentration: add enough CBD to give you the desired dosage across the number of servings your recipe is intended to yield. For instance, if you bake a batch of 24 cookies with 100 mg of CBD oil, each cookie will contain 4 mg of CBD.  However, if you want a stronger serving size, you will need to use 600 mg of CBD oil in your recipe to get 25 mg of CBD per cookie. 

• Flavor: generally speaking, many CBD tinctures have an earthy, bitter taste that some observers suggest is reminiscent of chlorophyll. Consequently, flavoring is often added to make them easier and more enjoyable to consume.  For instance, Bespoke Extracts offers tinctures that combine high quality CBD with delicious all-natural, 100% organic flavors that include manuka honey, blueberry, raspberry, citrus and mint, among others.  The flavor of the CBD oil you elect to use in creating your homemade goods should be considered, ensuring that you are combine complementary taste profiles.  Because every palette is different, have fun with this and experiment with different flavored CBD oils to create unique flavor combinations that you will enjoy. In baking, think chocolate chip cookies with mint-flavored CBD; or peanut butter bars with manuka honey CBD; or bran muffins with blueberry-flavored CBD.   Yum!

• Base: CBD works best in recipes with some sort of fat in them; so in order to use CBD in your cooking or baking, the CBD oil should have a fatty base, such as coconut oil, ghee or butter. CBD tinctures are ideal for this purpose; however, you can also elect to incorporate CBD into your cooking and baking by using a CBD isolate combined well with the butter or oil your recipe may already require.  Another option would be to dissolve CBD crystals into pre-heated (but not boiling) oils or butter prior to stirring into your recipe. 

More Important Tips for Cooking or Baking with CBD Oil

While many believe that warming up CBD oil may increase the effectiveness of CBD, such as adding it to a cup of coffee or tea, high temperatures may in fact destroy many of the active compounds in CBD.  When baking with CBD oil, ensure that you keep your oven set to between 320 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Any hotter and the CBD in your baked goods recipe could evaporate.

And, when preparing a soup or gravy with CBD, always cook at a low heat level – never boil. Or even better, prepare your recipe in accordance with the instructions, then after removing it from the stovetop and allowing it to cool a bit, stir in the CBD oil just before serving.

Because CBD is sensitive to light and heat, always store your baked goods infused with CBD oil in an airtight container kept in a dark, cool place.  This will help to ensure that your CBD pies, cookies, cinnamon rolls, muffins or other baked creations remain fresh, and the health and wellness benefits of the CBD are not diminished.

CBD Cookie Recipe

Ready to start baking with CBD? Here is a simple CBD dessert recipe for CBD cookies. They’re easy to make and yield ~30 cookies. The dosage of CBD per cookie will depend on the milligrams of CBD your CBD oil contains. 

CBD CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES RECIPE

Ingredients: 

• ½ cup of butter, softened
• ¾ cup of sugar
• ¾ cup of brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• CBD oil – half a teaspoon (20 milliliters) of CBD oil that contains 20 mg per milliliter, is generally equal to approximately 40 mg of CBD per batch, or 4 mg per cookie – which is a low dose; how much you put into depends solely on your own preference and experience with cooking and baking with CBD products
• 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (substitute out if your CBD product is vanilla flavored)
• 2 ¼ cups of flour
• ¾ teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1 cup of your favorite nuts (e.g., peanuts, almonds, etc.) - optional

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine softened butter and sugars until soft and fluffy for roughly 2–3 minutes. Add eggs to the mixture and mix well. Add vanilla extract and CBD oil until all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well until smooth. Avoid overmixing. Scoop tablespoon-size balls of cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and approximately two inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for ~20-24 minutes, or until golden brown.
4. Transfer hot cookies with a spatula to a wire rack to cool.
5. CBD cookies can remain stored in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days. Freeze any leftover cookies if you don’t plan on consuming them in the next five days.

If you are looking for other delicious ideas for easily incorporating CBD oil into your homecooked diet, consider one of the following easy:

• Drizzle the CBD oil over toasted bread and top with a fried egg.
• Incorporate into tartar sauce and serve with fried fish.
• Mix into fresh guacamole or salsa.
• Add an ingredient to your homemade pesto sauce and serve over pasta.
• Mash boiled potatoes with CBD oil, butter and cream.
• Combine CBD oil with coconut butter and use as sugar-free icing for muffins.

Cooking and baking with CBD oil can be a very rewarding way to reap the health and wellness benefits afforded by use of fresh ingredients in your recipes coupled with a fun and enjoyable way to deliver cannabinoids into your system.  So, Bon Appetit!