Crafting Festive Cannabis Infused Chocolate Citrus Nut Bark

Margaret 00:00:06 Friends. Welcome back. This is episode 278. And today we're doing dark chocolate citrus nut bark. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your hi life. I'm your host and Certified Ganjier Margaret and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. Friends, welcome back to another episode of Bite Me. If you're just tuning in for the first time, I'm glad you found me. How did you discover the show? Let me know. You can send me a fan mail. You can send me a DM, an email, whatever you like. I'd love to hear it and I'll give you a shout out on the show. And if you've been around for a while, my heartfelt appreciation goes out to you. You can also let me know how you discovered this show because I find it really interesting. It's a pretty small show. It spreads a lot by word of mouth and I just love getting messages from listeners because otherwise it can feel like a very solitary pursuit, often this game of podcasting.

Margaret 00:01:05 But I'm glad you're here, and I'm grateful that you're listening and sharing your time with me, because that's essentially what you're doing. And time is a precious commodity. It's the only non-renewable resource that we don't get back. So spend it wisely. And of course, spending wisely can include listening to Bite Me, the show about edibles. Now, this episode is special. I received some permission a little while back to share this recipe from Anne. And Anne is the author of a new cookbook called stoned with Biographies celebrating 100 Years of Counterculture and an all. Kim has been a guest on this show. If you haven't already heard that episode, I will be sure to link to it in the show notes. You can find it. It was a fantastic episode, led to a friendship through cannabis and is a wonderful human being. And she's also written another cookbook that's also equally as fantastic called Butter and Flour. And if you haven't checked that book out as well, I recommend that you do. I did for this particular podcast.

Margaret 00:02:15 Well, what other podcast would it be? But for this podcast I did The Canadian Snowballs, which is quite timely as I record this in December. Another great recipe to try if you haven't tried already, and I recommend both of her books. The Stoned Book is a beautiful coffee table style cookbook that is interspersed with stories, and it wasn't that long ago that I actually did an excerpt from the book on the show as well, and I'll link to that too, so you can check that out so you can learn about all things. And through Bite Me, the show about edibles, because she is doing some great work in the world, and I love talking about other cannabis enthusiasts, edibles enthusiasts in particular, that are doing cool shit in the world, and an is definitely one of those people. And I got to meet an in person at Camp Cana earlier this year and what a great experience was. She was just as lovely in person as she was online. The dark chocolate citrus nut bark stood out in this book, and I really liked the idea of the blend of chocolate and citrus.

Margaret 00:03:17 I know oftentimes, especially this time of year, chocolate and peppermint can be a nice combination. But citrus to me, it's sophisticated and it's a nice sort of twist on on a classic recipe, I guess. I mean, Chocolate Bark is one of these recipes that looks beautiful and impressive. It's actually pretty simple to make, and the one thing I really do like about Anna's recipes that she does in her books is how approachable they are and how most of them. I mean, there's of course more challenging recipes, as there should be in any cannabis cookbook or cookbook in general, because sometimes you want to try things that are a little more creative, that will help stretch your skills, that will help you learn more about your process. And it can be really satisfying. But sometimes when it gets really busy, like it does this time of year, you want something simple. And a lot of the recipes in this book are approachable and simple, and they don't require any specialty ingredients or tools. And this particular recipe, and a lot of the recipes and Hands book are no exception.

Margaret 00:04:21 This recipe stood out. It's festive. It's easy. It's perfect for holiday gifting or personal indulgence. And I can already tell you that I had a special someone. My daughter had her birthday this month as part of a little gift package I put together for her. It did include some of this bark so it it looks beautiful and sophisticated when you package it up nicely. So the dark chocolate citrus nut bark. Now at the top of the page it says difficulty level. And I love how throughout the book, the difficulty level isn't sort of scale like you might expect to find, but it is rather a commentary from our dear author. And this particular one says, my dog could make these, and she's not very bright. So there you have it, my friends. This is a simple recipe that you can put together relatively quickly. Now, what are you going to need for this particular recipe? Well, first of all, you're going to need some of your favorite dark chocolate. Now, I have to admit, when I made this particular one, for whatever reason, I think I was making it.

Margaret 00:05:38 And perhaps I did what I often do best, which is skim the recipe, although it's right in the name. I'm not sure how I pulled this one off, but I think I had it in my mind. I knew I was going to be doing this. I talked to Anna about it a while ago, and I don't remember the dark chocolate part, so I had a lot of semi-sweet chocolate chips on hand, so I ended up using semi-sweet. It still worked out quite nicely. If you're a dark chocolate lover, this is going to be beautiful with dark chocolate. So get the best quality dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate that you can. The quality of the chocolate is really going to make this particular recipe because it is the recipe. Essentially, you're going to need your can of coconut oil in this particular instance. So you want a bit of infused coconut oil. And of course, depending on your audience you can make this thc, CBD a ratio I have made it with and without. It's beautiful.

Margaret 00:06:33 Either way, I prefer it infused because, well, I don't think I need to explain myself any further. You're going to need almonds, pistachios, and pecans. You could probably also use a blend of particular nuts that you have on hand as well. I tend to often buy nuts and larger bags at Costco, so I just use whatever I happen to have on hand. A little while ago they have Brazil nuts and those are delicious and work really well in a lot of these types of recipes. So whatever you have on hand, walnuts would be nice in this. So the pistachios are good because they're salted. But I do realize that when I went out and bought the pistachios for what I was using these for, they were not salted. So I didn't get that salt factor. But I think that would be preferable in this particular instance, because the chocolate and the salt together would. Chef's kiss would be delicious. You're going to need also mixed citrus peel. Now, she says in the notes here that you can get these mixed citrus peels in your in your favorite bulk food store.

Margaret 00:07:33 But I actually used actual peel and I'm not sure if that's incorrect or not, but that's what I ended up doing. I just peeled a little bit, like with a with a vegetable peeler. I peeled off and then I chopped it up pretty small and use that. You could probably also use as zester if you wanted. You need an eighth of a cup, so it's not like you need a whole ton. That's what I ended up doing. It was pretty good. So that's all you need for this particular recipe. And as you can see, you need the chocolate. You need some nuts. You need some some citrus zest and of course your infusion fat, your infused coconut oil. And that's about it. Now, she did have some notes as well about what you might need as far as tools go, but she recommends using a double broiler or a heatproof bowl bowl over boiling water, which is essentially the same thing. You're just sort of creating your own little double boiler system, and that's how you're melting all of these ingredients together.

Margaret 00:08:34 And she suggests this suggests a citrus punch strain, which is an uplifting sativa promoting happiness and good vibes cultivar. And I use what I had on hand, which was a, I think for this particular one. I had made some coconut oil with some already vaped cannabis, because I have been using that quite a bit, because of course, as we all know, if you're using the spent cannabis out of your dry herb vaporizer that is already decarbonized, so it's ready to go. And I have a big jar of that in my pantry, and I just keep that for when I need to make something quick. I usually do have some cannabis in the in the pantry as well, but I think in this particular instance I had used it up for something else already. So I used the already vaped cannabis because it's already good to go. And that's a little fun fact. If you're going to be inhaling cannabis. That's one of the reasons, one of the many reasons I like to recommend a dry herb vaporizer, because you're kind of stretching your cannabis even further.

Margaret 00:09:32 You get to vaporize it, inhale it, and enjoy those beautiful terpenes in the high. And then you can save the spent cannabis and use it directly in your edibles later, So you buy once, used twice like brilliant isn't it? And of course, there's some health benefits to using a dryer vaporizer over your typical combustion, which I think a lot of people really enjoy. And if I'm being completely honest, I dry her vape in my house where I would never smoke a joint in my house. And as an ex smoker, I have a lot of reasons for that. I'm not really a big fan of the lingering smoke smell that tends to cling to clothing and curtains and all these things, and I know cannabis smoke is very different than cigarette smoke, but I have that association with it. So that's and I'm asthmatic as well. So these are all reasons why really joints are not my preferred way to consume if I'm inhaling cannabis. But a dry herb vaporizer. Also, this smell doesn't really linger the same way and it dissipates very quickly.

Margaret 00:10:36 So I will use those inside and use them often. And my roommate never seems to notice. Now, I tend to keep it in one area of the house, which would be my own private quarters, but I've never gotten any complaints, so that's another reason why I like it. Because it's December now. It's cold, it's snowy, it's shitty out, and going outside to consume cannabis really doesn't appeal to me, which is another reason why I love edibles as well, because I can eat one and just ride that come up and the nice cozy living room in front of the warm fire. I have to go anywhere. It's just, just beautiful. Doesn't that sound nice? So anyway, that's a bit of a digression, but those are the ingredients that you're going to need. Now, the preparation steps, of course, if when it comes to the infusion, if you already have. And a lot of people really do like coconut oils and infusion, you need eight tablespoons. So it's not a lot, but a lot of people will make larger batches.

Margaret 00:11:36 So, you know, having infused coconut oil on hand. It's useful for so many different recipes. So you're going to of course, if you don't have this on hand already, you're going to have to de carb and infuse your coconut oil first. And of course, if you need a refresher on decarbia or infusing your cannabis, I'll link to some resources in the show notes for that as well. It's pretty simple to do. If you're new to making edibles, then by all means check them out. It seems intimidating at first, but eventually you get sort of a process going and then you next thing you know, you have a little pantry or a section of your kitchen where you store some of the things that you need for making your edibles. And that may or may not include devices or fancy equipment. It doesn't have to. The one thing I love about edibles is that you can get as fancy as you want. You want to buy yourself an expensive tech device where you can figure out the potency of your edibles with a a margin of error of like 3%.

Margaret 00:12:33 I think it was. That may have changed with the new device, but you by all means go ahead and buy one of those things. But can you also figure it out with a certain degree of accuracy by using an online calculator or the math and a pen and paper? Yes you can. Can you do carb using a device like an ardent or a Levo two and spend the money that way? Of course you can. But you can also use your oven, which you already own. And can you infuse in a magical butter machine or some other pricey gadget that will infuse your oils and fats and butters and other things? Of course, you can spend all you want, but if you don't want to, if it's not your budget, if you're not interested, if you're you don't have the kitchen space for another nother gadget, then you can do it right on your stove with a pot, some water in a jar. I mean, this is what I love about edibles. You can. It's taking control of your life.

Margaret 00:13:31 And I know I've talked about this so many times on this show, but it really gets me excited because I sometimes feel like things are weird right now. There's it's just a weird time to be alive. And a lot of the times I think people are maybe getting a little consumption fatigue. And I love the radical self-reliance that comes along with making your own edibles and taking control of these things and having control over the whole process. And that control starts right from how you want to spend your money. When it comes to edibles, I will tell you, of course, making your own edibles is far less expensive than buying them at the store. And this comes from someone who interviews lots of people on this show who are making beautiful edibles and beverages for people to buy, and I have no qualms with that. I have tried many lovely beverages and edibles, and I do like to see what's new out there, what's innovative, what's interesting to see what's going on in the industry. I love all of that stuff, and there are some really cool brands out there doing some very interesting things and pushing the envelope a little bit and trying to bring quality products to the market that you would be proud to share with your friends or your family, because, I mean, it's quite easy to also get really cheap edibles out there as well, but the more interesting ones are the ones that are using super high quality ingredients, because if you're going to spend the money on it, you might as well get the best that you can afford because you can make it for far less, far less money.

Margaret 00:15:03 But I do love to see what's out there. And of course, I still go to my dispensary. I actually buy quite a few beverages when I go to the dispensary, because I've often using those in social settings as well. So I do like those quite a bit. And I buy edibles. Typically when I'm going to a dispensary, I'm buying primarily beverages, sometimes edibles, occasionally weed, because also if you're a grower and you know growers, then you also have the benefit of being able to supply your own medicine for whatever it is that you're making. Now, I didn't mean for this to go for me to go on such a rant. So apologies. We'll get back to the regularly scheduled programming where you are preparing a double broiler, but you're also preheating the oven because you're going to line a baking sheet with parchment paper or one of those silicone baking mats. I just got one of those silicone baking mats recently. It was a specialty one for making sourdough bread, and it actually is fantastic.

Margaret 00:15:56 And I'll probably save money on parchment paper because I can reuse this over and over and over again. And it does help. The bottom crust of my bread not get really hard from being right against the pan, the baking pan. Anyway, that's a whole other thing, but the silicone baking mats are fantastic. Either way, whatever works, you're going to toast your nuts until fragrant for about 5 to 10 minutes. So that's a little extra step that adds a nice little sophistication to this particular recipe. You're going to melt most of the chocolate with the cannabis infused coconut oil in your double broiler. You stir it really well, and then you're going to remove it from the heat. You're going to toss in the remaining chocolate, stirring it again until that melts as well. And then you're going to put in your nuts the toasted nuts that you had in the oven and also the citrus peel. And you're going to make sure they're completely covered. And then you're going to pour the chocolate nut mixture onto the still prepared baking sheet that you got out earlier.

Margaret 00:16:54 Yes, the prepared baking sheet that you have for toasting the nuts. So you're able to sort of use the pan twice instead of having to get something else dirty. And you're going to put it on the pan and let it refrigerate until solid in a few hours. That's that's it, that's it. It's so easy, so easy. And it looks so nice. Now, the real secret, I think sometimes to making it look even more sophisticated is to slice it into triangular shapes or pretty triangular shapes. And that's what I did. And that really gives it a nice look to it. And you can see sort of the bumps from the, the, the nuts. And it's delicious. I have eaten a, a godawful amount of this chocolate bark. And I know I've said that about fudge as well. I have made, I think, three batches of fudge so far this holiday season. Yeah, I don't think I'll be stepping on a scale until 2025, because I just don't want to know.

Margaret 00:17:58 And who cares? Life is too short, isn't it? I'm making delicious edibles. I'm going to eat them. And yes, I have a sweet tooth. I am going a little overdrive because I like to make a lot of things and give them to friends and family over the holiday season. But does chocolate bark? If you want something simple and beautiful that you can make, then this is the recipe for you. Now, as far as calculating the dosage of your infused oil or butter. It is something that you should probably do. In particular, if you're going to be gifting this to anybody or sharing it with anyone. And what I would recommend is head over to Bibby Podcast Comm. I have a calculator over there somewhere. I'll link to it in the show notes. You can find it easily, but that will allow you to calculate approximately how much cannabis or how much THC or CBD is going to be in your recipe. Bear in mind this isn't foolproof. Of course, you need to know, like, how potent your cannabis is that you're starting out with.

Margaret 00:18:59 And depending on where you got that cannabis from, like maybe it's already vaped bud, which means it's a mixture of different cultivars and you don't really know. I mean, that's, it's you might be able to guess or guesstimate, but that also means, right off the bat, your potency results are going to be not 100% accurate, for obvious reasons. Now, if you bought your cannabis at a dispensary and it's labeled right on the package, then you have a much better idea. But I think you should do it anyway, because this way you get to the habit of calculating the dosage and it becomes less intimidating the more you do it. And of course, even just that framework or that range when you're gifting an edible to somebody, makes people more aware of what they're consuming, even if it's not 100% accurate. And I think that's really important. So if you gift somebody a piece of this chocolate bark and, you know, you're saying, well, it's approximately 20mg per piece, that person then has the information that they need to make an informed decision.

Margaret 00:20:03 If it's a little off, ideally it's a little higher rather than too low. But you can always recommend they cut it into smaller pieces if they're unsure of their own tolerance, but at least it gives them a framework because they're not going. They're not eating it blind, if you will, without any idea of how strong this this piece of chocolate is that you're giving them. And I've had I know I've mentioned this before. I'm probably I'm sure if you've been listening to this show for a while, you've heard me mention it as well, that I've been gifted edibles before and, you know, wrapped in tinfoil with good intentions, no doubt, because people know that I like edibles, but if they don't have any idea how potent they are, I really don't want to take them. I have funny stories about when I have over consumed on edibles, and I can laugh about them now because it happened a while ago. I'm not in it at the moment, but any of you who have ever overdosed on cannabis knows all too well what a painful, painful experience it is to overconsume edibles.

Margaret 00:21:00 This stuff is not for the faint of heart, but in the right dose. It's beautiful and we all know this. This is why we're making edibles. This is why we're talking about edibles. So do some of the calculations. If you don't like the calculators, if you scroll right down to the bottom of the page, it shows you the math. So you can actually try doing the math on your own as well. It's not that difficult once you know the steps. And just trying cut the bark into, into portions that will make it easier to figure out the potency. And of course, don't forget to label. Even if you're gifting it. Be able. Make sure that it's clearly labeled that this is infused with cannabis if that's what you're going to do. And putting it in a little festive container or tin will really up the ante when it comes to presentation. And presentation is everything. So the dark chocolate citrus nut bark is a beautiful edible that you can make easily quit relatively quickly. I mean, if you don't factor in the time that it takes to solidify in the freezer.

Margaret 00:22:17 this comes together relatively quickly. I think. I think you're probably ten, 15 minutes hands on time in the kitchen and that's it. And you're not making a huge mess. I would love to hear your experience about making this particular recipe, how it turned out, any fun tweaks or personal touches that you added? Because I'd love to hear about this stuff. This dark chocolate citrus nut bark would pair beautifully with maybe what would go nice with this? A spiked holiday cocktail perhaps? Or some hot chocolate. If you really like the chocolate, you could double down on the chocolate a little bit. I'm thinking eggnog if you really want to go super rich and I do, it meant I love making eggnog every single year. I don't buy it. I make it in all its full, creamy fat glory with way too much sugar and egg. And it is delectable. And I could see this being very nice, even with that little that little twist of citrus. But what would you pair with it? I would love to hear that.

Margaret 00:23:21 I encourage you to try this recipe. Share your results on social media and tag me if you want. Or also, you can come on over to the Bite Me Cannabis Club and if you're making something festive, I do have a December challenge going on over there that is open to everyone, even if you're not a member of the club, and you could post some of your images over there as well on how you made this recipe your own too. I would love to see it. I invite you to check out Stoned and Butter and Flour by Ann, and I'll link to those in the show notes. Like I said, if you know somebody that would enjoy this episode, I encourage you right now to get out your phone and text them this episode right away, because that helps people discover the show without my friends. I think that's it for this week. I'm your host, Margaret, and until next time, stay high.