Home > Alice B. Toklas brownie

The name derives from Alice B. Toklas, the lover of Gertrude Stein, who included a recipe for " Haschich Fudge" in her 1954 Alice B. Toklas Cook Book, a volume intended not so much as a cookbook but as reminiscences on her life with Ms. Stein. However, prior to publication Ms. Toklas was short of recipes, and the recipe in question was contributed by her friend Brion Gysin as a joke. The recipe was introduced:

"This is the food of Paradise. . . . it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies' Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. . . . 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."

The suspicious ingredient ("canibus sativa" [sic]) was not spotted by Ms. Toklas before the book was published, and though it was removed in the American edition, it was printed in the British one.

Once the press discovered the recipe, the book received wide publicity. Quoth Time,

"The late Poetess Gertrude ( Tender Buttons ) Stein and her constant companion and autobiographee, Alice B. Toklas, used to have gay old times together in the kitchen. Some of the unique delicacies that were whipped up will soon be cataloged . . . in a wildly epicurean tome . . . Perhaps the most gone concoction (and also possibly a clue to some of Gertrude's less earthly lines) was her hashish fudge."

The original recipe, although rather vague as to directions, may conceivably be summarized as follows:

• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 4 sticks cinnamon
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 handful stone dateDate Date palms, Sinai, Egypt Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Genus Phoenix Species dactylifera Binomial name Phoenix dactylifera A date is the fruit of the date palm Ps
• 1 handful dried figAbout 800, including: Ficus altissima Ficus americana Ficus aurea Ficus benghalensis Indian Banyan Ficus benjamina Weeping Fig Ficus broadwayi Ficus carica Common Fig Ficus citrifolia Ficus drupacea Ficus elastica Ficus godeffroyi Ficus grenadensis Ficuss
• 1 handful shelled almondThis article refers to the plant. For other uses see Almond (disambiguation Prunus dulcis ( Mill. Webb The almond Prunus dulcis (formerly classified as Prunus amygdalus or Amygdalus communis is a small deciduous tree belonging to the Subfamily Prunoideaes
• 1 handful peanutThe Peanut is the edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea''. Although called a nut the peanut is a member of the pea family Fabaceae, and the fruit is not a nut, but a legume or pod. Peanuts develop underground in a woody pod, usually with two seeds tos
• A bunch of cannabis sativa ("picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green")
• 1 cup sugarThis article deals with sugar as food and as an important, widely traded commodity; the word also has other uses; see Sugar (disambiguation A sugar is a form of carbohydrate; the most commonly used sugar is a white crystalline solid, sucrose; used to alte
• 1 large pat of butterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh cream. It consists of an emulsion of water and milk proteins in a matrix of fat, with over 80% being fat. It is used as a condiment and for cooking in much the same ways as vegetable oils or lard. It is sol

Grind the pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and coriander in a mortar. Chop and mix the dates, figs, almonds, and peanuts. Grind the cannabis and mix it with the spices; dust this mixture over the fruits and nuts. Mix the sugar with the butter and knead this together with the fruits, nuts, spices, and cannabis. Eat with care - two pieces are quite sufficient.

Other recipes have been devised, the most standard being simply to prepare regular brownie mix and include an appropriate quantity of marijuana.

Other terms for an Alice B. Toklas brownie include "space cake," "pot pie," "hash brownie," "special brownie," or "magic brownie". The latter term has been used as a source for just about any other food item that contains marijuana: "magic tea," "magic cake," etc.