People take CBD in a lot of ways. There are CBD gummies, softgels, sublingual tinctures, topical lotions and balms, and even candies. But that’s just not enough to satisfy human ingenuity. More and more, CBD users are starting to add their CBD to baked goods.
While CBD’s psychoactive cousin THC has long been baked into brownies and cookies, CBD has remained rather an additive to smoothies than anything else. And though adding CBD tincture or oil to drinks is still a popular way to go (and a super easy way to get your CBD), consumers are getting more creative.
Benefits of Baking With CBD
Why bake with CBD, you ask? Well, CBD is a potentially beneficial compound in a lot of ways. Strong anecdotal evidence and preliminary studies have demonstrated that it has both anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties.
Other potential benefits of CBD include improved mood, neuroprotective properties, and may even help patients with insomnia. And all of these potential benefits come with a good safety profile and few side effects.
Baking with CBD is a fun way to get a little dose of wellness into your day.
Best Ways to Bake With CBD
Best of all, baking with CBD is incredibly simple. With an oil-based tincture, all you need to do is replace any of your baking oil (coconut, vegetable, olive oil, etc.) with an equal amount of unflavored CBD oil.
You may even get a little fancy and infuse CBD oil into your butter. All you need to do is break the butter into smaller pieces, and heat with CBD oil in a saucepan over very low heat. Cook and stir for a couple of hours, then refrigerate. You can even put it into cute molds.
How to Find the Best CBD Tinctures for Baking
There are a few things to look for when trying to find the perfect CBD tincture for baking. First, you want to make sure that it is unflavored. Flavored CBD tincture will skew the flavor of your baked goods. The natural flavor of hemp in the unflavored tincture will be easily covered by stronger flavors in the recipe, such as vanilla, sugar, and chocolate.
Next, look for a very pure tincture. Find something that has very few ingredients–ideally, just the CBD extract and a carrier oil. This will ensure that you aren’t putting additives or unnecessary extras into your recipe.
Finally, only use a CBD tincture from a reputable company. The CBD market is not regulated, and there are a lot of tinctures sold as CBD that may not actually contain the advertised dose of CBD, or worse, not have any CBD at all.
The company that sells your CBD oil should have results from an independent third party lab test prominently displayed on their website. This ensures that their product has the advertised CBD potency, and that it’s free from additives, toxins, and contaminants.
The Top 3 Picks for Best Baking CBD Tincture
To make the process a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of our top three picks for CBD baking. These tinctures are clean, pure, and effective. They are also from reputable companies that offer third party testing for all of their products, so you can rest assured about just what you’re putting into your food.
Joy Organics
Joy Organics is a well-known CBD company that has been in the business since 2018. Their quality unflavored CBD tinctures are made from CBD that’s CO2 extracted from organic, domestic hemp. This extract is blended with MCT coconut oil and nothing else.
Joy Organics unflavored CBD tincture is as pure as you can get, and is backed by a full satisfaction guarantee. If you love to bake with CBD (or do so for friends and family) you may benefit from their 20% subscription discount.
Lazarus Naturals
Lazarus Naturals creates a CBD tincture that is a mix of full spectrum, ethanol-extracted CBD oil, with hemp seed and coconut oils. It is organic and simple for easy addition to baked goods, and it comes in four different strengths: 750 mg, 1500 mg, 3000 mg, and 6000 mg.
Lazarus Naturals believes in accessibility of CBD to all. They offer a generous assistance program to low income households, veterans, and people with long term disability.
CBDistillery
CBDistillery offers a full spectrum CBD tincture that is US Hemp Authority certified. They source their CBD from non GMO, sustainably farmed domestic hemp, and simply add fractionated coconut oil. Again, an extremely clean oil that can be easily added to any baking recipe. They also offer third party lab results to prove the potency and purity of their tincture.
For robust CBD bakers, they also offer a 20% discount for repeat purchases. Simply subscribe for deliveries every 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 weeks. You’ll never run out!
Final Thoughts on Baking with CBD
Remember, baking with CBD oil may be different for every individual. You’ll have to decide what dose of CBD you want to have in each serving, and add the oil accordingly. For newbies, start a little slow and add a less potent oil. Most CBD oils come in varying strength levels, so this will be easy to do.
When sharing your baked goods, especially with full spectrum CBD and larger doses make sure that anyone you share your treats with knows that they contain CBD. While CBD has a good safety profile, it is still a supplement that can affect the body, or interact with certain medications.
Also, full spectrum CBD contains trace amounts of THC (less than 0.3%). While these trace amounts are completely legal and not at all psychoactive, they may (especially in larger doses) be picked up by a drug test. If you or a loved one requires regular drug testing for work, this risk may not be worth it. You may want to try a broad spectrum tincture that has no THC at all.
Now that you know a bit more about baking with CBD, it’s time to get out there and experiment. Happy baking!