Friends of mine have a black walnut tree in their yard. They’ve been throwing them away so I told them I would taken them. Now I have buckets of these things. Any idea on what to make with them other than cake???
Lucky, lucky, you! I’ll have to wait at least until November when I can purchase a small bag, because it’s the only size and available for only a month or two.
You could use them any way you’d use English walnuts, but at the top of my list would be black walnut ice cream. Cookies, muffins, quick breads, snacks.
Best stored in mason jars in the freezer.
All I can remember my grandparents using theirs for was plate fudge, but they were darned good in it.
What MollyJames said. Toast them, add to salads, quick breads/muffins, or just snack on the lovely things.
I love them in sweets as others have mentioned, but I also love them in savory applications. Toss them in a salad with apples or pears, pickled onions, and maybe some cheddar or feta cheese. There is a great recipe for Black Walnut Bread in Bernard Clayton’s “New Complete Book of Breads.” The recipe calls for minced onion and hot milk among the ingredients. It yields a tender, almost meaty bread and great slice of toast. Along with a salad and or soup, the rich toast is a very filling meal. I’d like to drink a good Burgundy with it someday.
Here’s a link to the recipe:
http://ow.ly/SIEn7
Recipe tip: the wet onions can make the dough unwieldy, so I drain them if they are particularly juicy. I often use green onion instead.
Thanks everyone! With a little googling I found this article, which I found inspiring. 
I like the idea of something savory as well. I will let you know what I do with them. Now I just have to hull then, dry them, and harvest the fruit! Wish me luck…
I don’t know anything about black walnuts.
My family is from the Ozarks and my grandmother used them. Pumpkin bread, divinity, sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, fudge,chocolate cake and chocolate cookies were some I remember.
I make these cookies for my dad at Christmas. They are from the German area in mid Missouri. These were adapted from “The Breads, Cakes, Cookies, Sweets and Special Foods of a Midwest German Christmas” by Erin McCawley Renn. According to the book, it was brought over from Lower Saxony in the 1840’s and adapted to the local ingredients.
Zimmerschied
1 cup of butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 c. Missouri black walnuts, chopped to less than a quarter inch.
Cream brown sugar and butter and add vanilla.
Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
Add walnuts last.
Make into rolls, seal tightly and allow to rest over night in refrigerator.
Slice thin about 1/8th inch or a little more and bake at 350 degrees until done, maybe 10 minutes.
I used to mix these by hand and they are crumbly but using a mixer, the dough holds together better.
