Welcome back to The Weedeater, Racket’s column exploring the exciting world of cooking with cannabis. Each month, I walk you through a tasty new cannabis-based recipe with foolproof instructions to make it yourself. Some are fast and easy. Others, elaborate and oh so very dumb. But all are delicious and leave you feeling real nice. With that, let’s get cooked!
Tiramisu
It’s been hotter than hell lately, which means on some days my third-floor apartment actually feels like hell despite keeping two window units fully cranked. On those most sweltering days, the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot stove or turn on my oven. But hey, that’s not going to stop me from making something delicious and weed-packed to share with you all! So this month, we’re making a weed-soaked version of the best no-bake dessert on the planet: tiramisu.
This recipe may just be this column’s finest entry yet. While it requires some patience and a little bit of technique, it’s wildly simple to make. Tiramisu purists will notice that the recipe breaks from tradition in a few ways. First, it’s obviously full of weed, which seems like something that would earn me a nonna scolding and likely a healthy rap on the head with a wooden spoon. Second, it swaps the traditional espresso with your favorite THC cold brew. For mine, I used a can of Howdy 10 mg Chocolate Cold Brew that I picked up at Marigold, but the Gus Dean Royal Caramel cold brew would be an excellent choice here as well. Third, this recipe skips the traditional boozy addition of rum or cognac, so the only buzz you’ll get from this tiramisu is from the caffeine and the weed.
And speaking of that buzz, this tiramisu is endlessly adaptable to your preferred dosage. If you make the recipe as written using 5 grams of cannabis in your cream infusion, you’ll end up with a pan of tiramisu that clocks in at around 150 mg. If you drop the infusion down to 3 grams, you’re looking at something closer to 100 mg for the whole shebang. To dial things in even more, you can swap out some of the cannabis cream in the recipe for more plain old heavy whipping cream. Or, you can skip the infusion all together and just use the cold brew and shaved chocolate on top as your weed source.
And with that, let’s get baked while not baking!
Here’s what you’re gonna need.
For the cannabis cream:
- 3-5 grams cannabis flower or trim*
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Optional: 1 whole nutmeg nut, lightly crushed
*Trim is all the small leaves and buds that get discarded during the trimming process. Ask your friends who grow their own weed at home if they have some to spare.
For the Tiramisu:
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar, divided in 1/4 amounts
- 1/4 cup cannabis cream
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 10 oz can of THC cold brew
- Two dozen ladyfingers (give or take a few depending on your chosen tiramisu vessel)
- 1-2 oz of your favorite THC chocolate bar
Here’s what you’re gonna do.
- Infuse your cream. Decarb your weed following the same method we used in step one of the Deviled’s Lettuce Eggs recipe. When decarbing, I recommend working in a larger batch than you’ll need for one recipe. Decarbed weed stays good for a while, so why not do a bunch and save future you some time down the road? For this infusion, we’re going to skip grinding our decarbed weed. Instead, lightly crush or tear it into smaller pea-sized pieces. Set up a double boiler like we did in step three of the Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Dipped Chocolate Strawberries recipe. Bring the water in the bottom to a simmer. In the top, combine the heavy cream, cannabis flower or trim, and nutmeg if you’re using it. While it’s totally optional, the nutmeg helps mask the weed taste in the infused cream. A quick note on dosing: 5 grams of flower/trim yields an infused cream that’s about 10 mg of THC per tablespoon so if you’re looking for a lower dosage, just use a little less cannabis. Let the cream, cannabis, and nutmeg cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain the infused cream through a fine mesh sieve into a clean jar and let it cool before chilling in the fridge for at least four hours.
- Prepare the cream for the tiramisu. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar until a very pale yellow mixture forms. The mixture should be about tripled in volume and a slight ribbon should fall from the whisk. Set the egg mixture aside for now. In a second bowl, combine cannabis cream, non-cannabis cream, and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Using a whisk or electric mixer, whip the cream mixture until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone and continue to whip until it turns into a spreadable mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold it into the egg and sugar mixture until thoroughly combined. Be sure not to mix too aggressively as you’ll knock all the air out of the cream mixture, resulting in a less airy final tiramisu. Now, you’ve probably noticed there are a lot of bowls, spatulas, and whisks being used here and you know what that means… LOTS of chef’s treats. Treat yourself and lick ‘em all! You’ll thank yourself for the taste since the assembled tiramisu has to chill in the fridge for a while before you can eat it.
- Assembly time. Lightly dust an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with cocoa powder. Pour the coffee into a shallow dish or bowl. Working one at a time, dip each ladyfinger into the coffee and arrange in a single layer in the bottom of the baking dish. Ladyfingers soak up liquid pretty quickly, so a quick dunk on each side is plenty. When the first layer fully covers the bottom of the dish, evenly spread half the mascarpone cream mixture on top. Repeat with another layer of coffee-soaked ladyfinger and top with the remaining cream mixture. Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours (but waiting 12-24 hours is better). Before serving/scarfing, liberally shave or grate your THC chocolate bar of choice on top. You can also opt for a non-cannabis chocolate if you’re watching your dosage. Pro tip: Tiramisu freezes beautifully and tastes like a coffee ice cream cake right out of the freezer. It’s a very refreshing treat if your apartment also feels like hell on earth during the summer.
Or, you can take the easy way out.
I gotta be honest, there aren’t a ton of ways to make this thing easier. If you’re skipping the infused cream, that’ll cut down on your overall effort pretty significantly. To make things even easier, you could just use a tub or two of Cool Whip so you don’t have to whip your own cream. With this recipe though, it’s really the waiting for everything to chill in the fridge that’s the hardest part (which I assume is what Tom Petty really meant), and there’s really no way to cut down on that. And hey, we’re already taking the easy way out by not brewing a shitload of espresso!
Well, that’s all for this one. See you next time!
But wait! There’s more!
If you do choose to infuse the cream for this recipe, you’ll end up with more infused cream than you’ll need for the tiramisu. You can certainly just keep the excess in your fridge and use it as you would heavy whipping cream or just make another tiramisu. OR you can mix it with an equal part of milk and some sugar and vanilla extract to taste and you’ll have one hell of a nice coffee creamer. Put a splash in your coffee each morning to get a little extra pep in your step!
Ok, now that’s really all for this one. Bye!
