Sonoma’s finest cookbook author meets Morocco’s finest brownie

Sonoma resident Paula Wolfert is the author of eight cookbooks, all considered classics. Among them: “Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco,” “The Cooking of Southwest France,” and five books on Mediterranean cuisine including “Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean.” She has won the Julia Child Award three times, the James Beard Award five times, the MFK Fisher Award, the Tastemaker Award, and will be honored in May with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the James Beard Foundation Awards.

This cannabis “fudge” recipe is an excerpt from Paula Wolfert’s first cookbook, “The Food of Morocco”:

“This innocent-looking candy was made in my presence in Morocco. At the time I didn’t write down exactly what Mohammed Mrabet… did, as Fatima, my housekeeper, kept muttering disapproving remarks into my ear.

“Later, searching out the proper proportions, I came upon a recipe in “The Hashish Cookbook” written by one “Panama Rose.” A little bit of detective work among the “Tangier Mafia” in New York revealed the identity of “Panama Rose,” leaving me to the conclusion “she” almost certainly learned to make majoun from Mrabet. Her recipe is very similar to his, except in the method of adding the kif (cannabis).

“I deny, absolutely, that I have ever tested this recipe; on the other hand, let me tell you how it is made. Mrabet placed about one pound of smen (cooked and salted butter) in a casserole with plenty of water and about three cups stalks, seeds, and leaves of kif. After bringing it to a boil, he let it simmer two hours, then carefully strained it into a large, deep roasting pan. He then threw away the stalks, seeds and leaves, and let the butter cool and rise to the top in the refrigerator overnight.

“He then placed the butter in the casserole with 1 pound chopped dates, 1 pound chopped figs, 1/2 pound raisins, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, some ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon aniseed, 1/2 cup heavy honey, and 1/2 cup each ground almonds and walnuts... He then cooked all this together until it became very thick and brown. He added some orange flower water and ras el hanout to taste, and packed the majoun in clean jars.

“My suggestion: Eat with care, never more than one tablespoon at a time.”