How to Make Cannabis-Infused Caramels

Cannabis caramels are super portable, delicious treats that store very well in the freezer for long periods of time. Weed caramels are chewy, sweet, and totally customizable in dose: for example, we really love infusing the recipe’s cream with CBD, and the cannabutter with THC, to really personalize the experience.

If you’re looking for the perfect, soft, yummy cannabis caramel recipe, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading!

Types of Weed Caramels

The best part about making canna caramels is trying out different flavors and varieties. Find some fun alternate flavor options below:

  • Honey Matcha Caramels
  • Sea salt caramels
  • Chai tea caramels
  • Black sesame caramels
  • Bourbon caramels
  • Honey, Pistachio, Saffron caramels

Equipment Needed

  • 3 quart saucepan
  • Glass baking dish
  • Aluminum foil
  • Candy thermometer
  • Wooden spoon, for mixing
  • Ardent Nova or FX decarboxylator
  • Wax paper, for wrapping

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups cannabis-infused heavy cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cannabutter

How to Get Started

As you probably already know, decarboxylation is the precise process of removing the acid molecule from plant material in order to bring it into its activated state. To break that down further, this process essentially turns THCA into THC, and turns CBDA into CBD.

That molecule, however, weighs about 13% of the total flower’s weight, so when calculating the maximum potential of your activated dose, that loss needs to be factored in.

A general rule for calculating your dose in the Nova or FX is to multiply the percentage of THCA or CBDA in your material by .87% to adjust for the missing molecule. If your starting material is at 23% THCA, you’ll be left with about 200 mgs of potential THC, because Ardent technology gets over 97% activation in every decarb cycle.

If you use a device other than the Nova or FX, however, such as the oven, toaster oven, or crockpot, which fluctuates in temperature and is less precise, you’ll lose an additional 30-40% of cannabinoids during the decarb process.

Now, this recipe only calls for a small amount of cannabutter, which can be infused, but if you’re only infusing the butter, you might want to use decarbed concentrates to make it stronger. You can also infuse the cream, expecting about 70% infusion into your end product. Find testing for milk and cream infusions on our blog.

Decarb your material in the Nova or in the FX, using the A1 setting for THC-rich material and A2 setting for CBD-rich material. Infuse butter in the Nova or FX, on the infuse setting. If infusing cream, use the FX on the infuse setting as well.

Directions

  1. On medium heat, add infused cream, sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup to the saucepan, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.
  2. Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature, and allow it to come to 245 degrees.
  3. Mix in salt, vanilla, and butter and remove from heat. Pour into your foil lined baking pan and allow it to rest for 5 hours.

What Our Community is Making

Our community is making tons of caramel recipes in so many different varieties. Here are some of their favorite uses for this sweet snack:

  • Peanut butter, nutella and caramel filled chocolates
  • Caramel chocolate fudge
  • Salted caramel and chocolate chips in the classic box pot brownie
  • Gingerbread caramels
  • cannabis infused caramel toffees
  • Salted caramel cheesecake with caramel crisps
  • Salted caramels
  • Caramel bon bons
  • Apple cider caramels

Ardent Community Methodology

  • John K. Lyons adds sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, chocolate chips, and decarboxylated cannabis concentrate to a double boiler.
  • Laronda Hutchison uses store-bought caramel bits and concentrate with the double boiler method before adding coconut flakes and macadamia nuts.
  • Matt Roach melted down chewy caramels in a parchment lined bowl in the microwave before quickly stirring in some infused coconut oil.
  • Tony Vongphachanh used a recipe similar to ours, but with infused ghee instead of butter.
  • Lisa Jane adds apple cider, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice in her recipe, to give it a spiced apple flavoring.

Trying out our THC caramels? Tag us on Instagram for the chance to be featured on our page.

 

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