Recipe

Willie Nelson’s Brownies (Yes, Those Kind of Brownies)

From his new cannabis cookbook, the country legend’s recipe is delicious with or without the THC

By Steve Russell
Recipe by Annie Nelson and Andrea Drummer

November 13, 2024

Brownie river, take my mind

Don’t let her memory torture me

Brownie river, don’t run dry

You’re all I got, take care of me

Okay, that’s not exactly how the lyrics of the hit Willie Nelson song go. But it’s well known that marijuana long ago supplanted whiskey as the Texas troubadour’s painkiller of choice. While acknowledging that pot caused some past legal woes, Willie has earnestly declared, “Overall…cannabis turned my mean to mellow. It helped me find the groove in the grind of a hectic but beautiful life of creating music.”

What many fans don’t know is that after a bout with pneumonia a few years ago, Willie quit puffing weed in favor of foods imbued by THC, cannabis’s psychoactive component. Such “edibles” were introduced to his diet by his wife, Annie. Now, along with cannabis-centric chef Andrea Drummer, the couple has just released Willie & Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook. With the wry subtitle “mouthwatering recipes and the high-flying stories behind them,” it offers more than eighty recipes spanning comfort cuisine (truffle mac ’n’ cheese), holiday favorites (roasted banana pudding), and gourmet fare (butter-basted Cornish hens). Willie admits a special fondness for “munchies”-style food such as the skillet brownies recipe shared below.

Yes, this recipe is designed to produce a high. Preparing and consuming it is strictly a matter of personal choice. (Depending on where you live, recreational cannabis may be illegal, so it goes without saying to abide by the law.) For those who proceed, note that the cookbook’s recipes were created using a cannabis strain that contains 22 percent THC. Know the THC level of the cannabis you’re using, adjust as needed, and as Willie himself advises, “Be patient and get to know the dosage that suits you best.”

And if you’re not looking to get high, note that you can simply leave out the THC and enjoy decadent, gooey brownies.

Garden & Gun has an affiliate partnership with bookshop.org and may receive a portion of sales when a reader clicks to buy a book.

Ingredients

THREE-LAYER SKILLET CANNABIS BROWNIES (YIELD: 5 SERVINGS*)
FOR THE CANNABIS GHEE (YIELD: 2 CUPS)
- 28.3 grams (1 oz.) cannabis product
- 1 lb. unsalted ghee
FOR THE BROWNIES
- 8 tbsp. (4 oz.) butter
- 1 tsp. cannabis ghee
- 4 oz. plus ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1½ oz. Ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup toffee bits
- 2½ cups store-bought cookie dough, room temperature
- 2½ cups coarsely crushed Biscoff cookies

Preparation

*14.1 milligrams THC per serving, which some may consider a high dose. Non-THC-infused ghee can be substituted for delicious brownies with no psychoactive effect.

Make the cannabis ghee: Process the cannabis product to a fine grind using a coffee grinder or blender. Place the ground cannabis in a layered cheesecloth and fold or bundle into a sachet. Secure the sachet tightly with kitchen twine.

In a 2-quart saucepan, melt the ghee over low heat. Add the sachet and cook for 3 hours over low heat to extract the THC. Stir occasionally. Do NOT allow the ghee to reach boiling temperature. Gently squeeze ghee through a cheesecloth and cool fully before refrigerating.

Make the brownies: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter, 1 tsp. of the cannabis ghee, 4 oz. of the chocolate chips, and the unsweetened Ghirardelli chocolate until smooth. Set aside and allow it to cool.

In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Mix until well combined. In a medium bowl, sift together ¼ cup of the flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. In a medium bowl, toss together the remaining ½ cup of the chocolate chips, the toffee bits, and remaining 1 tbsp. flour. Fold them into the chocolate mixture.

Press ½ cup of cookie dough into each of five 3½-inch cast-iron skillets. Use more, if desired, to achieve an even layer. Make a layer in each skillet of ½ cup of crushed Biscoff cookies. Divide the brownie batter equally among the skillets and place on a baking sheet. Cook until browned, about 25 minutes, being mindful not to overcook. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream and warm salted caramel sauce if desired.

Steve Russell is a Garden & Gun contributing editor who also has written for Men’s Journal, Life, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, he resided in New Orleans and New York City before settling down in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it’s far enough south that biscuits are an expected component of a good breakfast.