Alice Toklas’ Moroccan Hashish Fudge Recipe

 Alice Toklas was the lifelong companion of famed novelist Gertrude Stein. In 1954 she published The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook which included a recipe given to her by Moroccan-based artist Brion Gysin called “Hashish Fudge.”

In her book, she describes the Moroccan hash fudge as providing “Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by ‘un évanouissement reveillé’.”

The recipe was intriguing but a little vague, so I went to work figuring out the right proportions using more modern measurements. Not much in the way of modification presented here, the original is quite good! I do however provide a few alternative ingredients to better tailor it to your liking.

Revisiting the Recipe

The modern interpretation is arguably much more potent than what Alice would have been used to! Using dried cannabis flower with 25% THC content will provide approximately 500mg of THC per batch.

These are rough estimates only, adjust this figure according to your own cannabis percentages to more accurately dose this delightful treat. For help with dosage information, check out this Edible Dosage Calculator from Kind Meds. Store tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 weeks.

The original recipe requires a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have one of those, you can use the individual substitutions listed below each ingredient. Using pre-ground spices can be easier, but the flavor profiles are no match for those of freshly ground spices. Still good though!

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
  • OR: 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • OR: 1 tsp ground coriander
• 4 cinnamon sticks
  • OR: 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 whole nutmeg
  • OR: 1 tsp ground nutmeg

Cannabis

• 2 gr. dried cannabis flower or 1 gr. kief. You can also use cannabis oil in this recipe  – see below

Fruits & Nuts

• ½ cup pitted dates
• ½ cup dried figs or raisin
• ½ cup shelled almonds
• ½ cup peanuts or pistachios

Sugar & Butter

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• 4 Tbsp of butter (you can use cannabutter for an extra kick)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

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Preparation

• Finely grind your cannabis flower. A finishing grinder like the Magic Flight really helps here. If your flower is too wet or sticky, you can just rough grind now and then finish it once it has cooked & cooled.
• Place your ground flower or kief in a glass dish or pie plate and cover with aluminum  foil. Place in an oven preheated to 250 degrees F. (121 C.)  and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, set aside and allow to cool completely before removing foil.
• Combine the peppercorns, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and your cannabis flower or kief in the mortar and pulverize until it resembles fine sand. Set aside.
• If you are using pre-ground spices, combine the pepper, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg and your pre-ground cannabis flower or kief and mix well. Set aside
• Finely chop the fruits and nuts. You can use a food processor for this step if desired. The goal here is to resemble coarse rocky sand. Place into a mixing bowl and add the spice & cannabis mixture. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.
• In a small sauce pan, combine the brown and white sugars and butter, cooking over low heat until all the sugars have melted together stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat and pour over the fruit/nut/spice mixture. Mix well until evenly incorporated.

Dosage

• Using our previous example of 500mg THC content, we can easily make any of the following portion sizes: 50 x 10mg, 25 x 20mg, 10 x 50mg etc. If you desire a lower dosage treat, you can simply use half the cannabis flower or kief.
• Portion the mixture out based on your determined dosage, roll that portion into a ball and place on wax paper to cool.

Optional: roll the balls in powdered sugar to coat

Additional Variations

If you are using cannabis oil, wax, shatter, etc. for this recipe instead of (or in addition to) the ground cannabis flower, add the concentrate to the butter/sugar mixture while heating. Stir well to fully incorporate into the mix. Make sure to scrape the pan to get it all!

Adding cannabutter does change the taste a bit, some may like it and some may not. You can try it for yourself and see.

You an add a tablespoon of molasses if you would like a deeper sweetness – goes really well with earthy strains!