If you aren't all that fond of the flavor of black walnuts, I'd suggest chopping them really fine and using only 1/4 to 1/2 as much as a recipe calls for.

We love this recipe, but you might cut the amount of black walnuts to 1/4 c. and use English walnuts for the remaining amount. -Grainlady

BLACK WALNUT AND OATMEAL COOKIES

3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal
1-1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. raisins or chocolate chips (optional)
1-1/4 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 c. black walnuts

Mix sugar, egg, butter and vanilla together. Stir in dry ingredients and black walnuts. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 350-degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack. Makes 3-dozen.

Looooove black walnuts! I like mixing them with maple syrup....refrigerating for several days and spooning over ice cream! Also good over a waffle!
Linda C

Black walnuts taste entirely different from English walnuts, and people usually either love 'em or hate 'em. I am in the latter group. There are way too many black walnut trees near us, and I think squirrels have planted every one of them. We try to pull the young trees up as soon as they appear, but they are tenacious survivors and seem to win much of the time.

Black walnuts may be an acquired taste.

I grew up with them, in fact,
They were the only nuts we had when I was a kid,
Lots of black walnut trees on the farm,
And we were too poor to buy other kinds.
Except at Christmas.

Yes, they have an entirely different flavor
than English walnuts.

My very favorite cookie was (still is)
Oatmeal cookies.
My mother made them with black walnuts and raisins.
Grainlady's recipe looks very similar to my mother's.

She also put them in a cake similar to a pound cake.
I don't have her recipe,
but I think any plain pound type cake would be good.

Rusty

Ice Cream
-Herman Cain

ynnej...not appropriate IMO

Black walnuts in fudge are wonderful. Many of the fudge shops around here make it on a regular basis.

Nancy

I grew up eating them, too and there's nothing else I can think of that tastes like them. If you run out of ideas, you can just send them to me. ;)

grainlady, thank you for the cookie recipe! Since both you and Rusty suggested oatmeal cookies, I will give them a try.

LindaC, I can imagine that maple syrup would be very good with them. I will soak some for the heck of it! :)

wizardnm, I would NEVER have thought of fudge! I think I might like them better with some chocolate (I made yellow cake), so I'll try that too.

If I still don't care for the taste I can bring all of the leftovers to work for others to at least try.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! You were all very helpful!!! :)

Why is it not appropriate? He raved about black walnut ice cream being his favorite. But whatever.

Maple fudge with black walnuts is what I grew up with as the only way to make it. I love black walnut ice cream. You either like them or not, no in between. I find them impossible to get around here. I was going to say send them to me but pfmastin beat me to it. LOL
Clare

I'm probably showing my age.....did anyone else's Dad fill a burlap bag with them and place them at the end of the driveway so that they got hulled with trips in and out? And I remember the shells being VERY hard to crack. The price I paid at Christmas time this year disappointed me but didn't surprise me. They're really labor intensive.

Black walnut ice cream was my grandmother's favorite, too. I love it, too. I haven't seen it in years but also haven't looked. I almost never buy ice cream.

".did anyone else's Dad fill a burlap bag with them and place them at the end of the driveway"

We didn't put them in a burlap sack,
Just spread them out the full length of the driveway.
And we would all have very brown fingers
From picking them up
after they'd been driven over a few times.

A hammer and an old anvil were the tools used,
To crack them.
"Labor intensive" is almost an understatement!
But I imagine more modern commercial growers
Have much more efficient equipment.

They aren't found in the stores around here
Very often, anyhow.
The couple of times I did find them,
They tasted very old,
And almost rancid.
I guess people here just aren't familiar with them.

Rusty

I dispise black walnuts,we bought this farm that in our yard is about 6 b.walnut trees,Mess,Mess I thought one nite Ill work on these walnuts,hubby was away .I was up till 2 am hammering,ruined my chop block,got about a 2" pile in jar only to get up in the morning to a jar of mold,dont even go there.I hate black walnuts with a passion.