6

SWEETS THAT SATISFY

“’Cause just like a tree planted,
planted by the rivers of water/
That bringeth forth fruits, bringeth
forth fruits in due season/
Everything in life got its
purpose, find its reason in
every season, forever!”

—“FOREVER LOVING JAH,” BOB MARLEY

RUM RAISIN AND GRAPE-NUTS ICE CREAM

SERVES 4 (MAKES 1 PINT; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

I GUESS YOU COULD CALL MY PARENTS some of the original health nuts—we never had much in the way of sugary foods in our house, and dessert was something special, not an everyday kind of thing. (According to my dad, a raw carrot was dessert!) So when we were given a cookie or something sweet, it was a big deal. That said, Daddy loved to treat us kids, especially if we had a hard day or were upset or sad—off we’d go to the Oop Si Do ice cream parlor for a scoop of dragon stout, rum cake, Irish moss, soursop, sorrel, or my favorite, Grape-Nut. Here I enhance the ice cream with some CannaButter, which works great in the ice cream since you are making a custard base first to warm and distribute it. You can also use 1 teaspoon of CannaVanilla in place of the vanilla bean (and omit the CannaButter).

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CITRUS-GINGER SORBET WITH RAISE-UP RASPBERRY SAUCE

SERVES 4 (5 MG THC PER SERVING)

THIS IS A REALLY REFRESHING WAY to serve dessert or get your sweet fix almost any time of day. Because it’s so light and refreshing, you could definitely get away with serving the sorbet and its psychedelically vibrant fuchsia-tinted raspberry sauce at a brunch or ladies’ luncheon. The sauce, by the way, is good on virtually any kind of ice cream, from vanilla to chocolate (or even Grape-Nut, here), if you want to skip the sorbet and just serve the Herb-spiked sauce over a store-bought scoop.

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GINGERY CARROT CAKE WITH PINEAPPLE AND CASHEWS

SERVES 12 (MAKES ONE 9-INCH LAYER CAKE; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO MAKE A SPECIAL OCCASION even more special, a showstopper cake like this one with an extra secret ingredient is just what you need. Cake is really easy to enhance with Herb—just replace some of the butter or oil in the recipe with CannaButter or CannaOil and you’re good to go. Cashews and crystallized ginger give the cake extra richness and a bit of sweet heat. The middle layer gets a special addition of pineapple in the cream cheese frosting. I like how it breaks up the layers and adds a touch of sweet-sour to the cake.

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STICKY SWEET POTATO PUDDING WITH COCONUT “CONKALONK” TOPPING

SERVES 12 (MAKES ONE 9 X 13-INCH PAN; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

MY AUNTIE USED to make this wonderfully sticky-sweet pudding for us kids and you bet I was the first one waiting by the oven with a spoon. I just loved it hot and fresh, sweet and good. The sweet coconut topping that is sometimes called conkalonk, or slush, because it’s so syrupy and sticky, is what makes it so special. The pudding, which really has more of a cakelike texture, is loaded with sweet potatoes and raisins and absorbs some of the topping. The whole package is incredibly delicious. At Christmas time we’d steam the pudding outside over a coal stove—I remember using dumpling dough to cover the baking dish to seal in the steam. The fire made the flavor that much more special.

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MARLEY PASSION CHEESECAKE

SERVES 12 (5 MG THC PER SERVING)

CHEESECAKE IS PURE NICENESS, RIGHT? I top mine with a passion fruit gel made with agar-agar instead of gelatin. Agar-agar is made from seaweed and is a cleaner choice for your body than gelatin. You can find it in the aisle at the grocery store or health food store where you find other Japanese items like nori and pickled plums (it usually comes in a small pouch and almost looks like crumbly chalk). Cheesecake is a great dessert for feeding large groups—it’s relatively quick to make and can be made in advance (a few days ahead is fine—just keep it chillin’ in the fridge), making your life as a host so much easier. Keep in mind that this isn’t one of those light and airy cheesecakes—this cheesecake is rich and dense and indulgent! I like to serve it at brunch, lunch, or early dinner rather than after supper late at night.

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BAKED AND GLAZED PUMPKIN-GINGER DONUTS

MAKES 12 SMALL DONUTS (2 DONUTS PER SERVING; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

I’VE ALWAYS HAD A THING FOR DONUTS. When I went to an all-girls Catholic school in Kingston sometimes we’d get a jelly donut for a snack after school as a special treat. Now I make a pumpkin-ginger version extra special by adding a bit of CannaOil to the batter! These are much healthier than the fried donuts we ate as kids since they’re baked. Coffee and molasses give them a ton of flavor and moistness, making these special enough for a weekend breakfast treat or an afternoon coffee break. If you have a donut pan, here’s a great excuse to bruk out! But hey now, don’t think these are just for breakfast—arrange them on a cake stand and serve as a fun dessert—I can’t think of anyone who would turn down a donut after dinner!

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DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE BROWNIE TRUFFLES

MAKES 24 TRUFFLES (2 TRUFFLES PER SERVING; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

POT BROWNIES: THE ORIGINAL EDIBLES! You’ve probably had pot brownies, but none like these decadent truffles. I make them by cutting brownies into squares, rolling them into two-bite balls, and then dipping into melted chocolate and coconut oil. As the chocolate cools, the shell hardens so when you bite into it the coating snaps. Talk about food that’s fun to eat! Sometimes I sprinkle a little flaky sea salt, like fleur de sel (or smoked fleur de sel) on the coating before it hardens for that sweet-salty taste. These are awesome for getting a party started—why not give your guests a little sweet something with their cocktail? Rules were meant to be broken, am I right?

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OVALTINE BISCUITS

MAKES 24 COOKIES (2 COOKIES PER SERVING; 5 MG THC PER SERVING)

OVALTINE BISCUITS are like Jamaica’s Chips Ahoy. They were one of my favorite store-bought sweets as a kid, so coming up with a homemade version was fun. Brittle and not too sweet or too buttery, they get a hit of malt from the Ovaltine mix. Like cake, enhancing cookies is so very easy—just substitute some CannaButter or CannaOil (or CannaVanilla) for some of the butter or oil (or vanilla) in the recipe. If you want two cookies to constitute one serving (I mean, come on, just one cookie is a little sad, no?), that means that every cookie should have 2.5 mg of THC—which, if you’re using CannaButter or CannaOil, comes to ¼ teaspoon per cookie . . . so for a batch of two dozen, well, you can figure out the math! And oh hey, keep those fingers out of the cookie dough . . . and no licking the spoon (unless you want to feel fine). Oh one more thing—even though you’re baking the cookies at 350°F, the inside temperature of the cookie doesn’t get that hot, so you don’t need to worry about the THC burning off.

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