It is Walnut Time!

I remember as a child, just before fall, making sure the all the black walnuts were pushed onto the driveway. Why? For those of you who don't know, black walnuts grow with a tough, stinky husk around them. That husk needs to be removed before they are cracked or put whole into storage, so we tossed them onto the gravel and dirt driveway.

Driving over them with a truck, tractor or car would rarely break the actual shell, but would nicely 'squish' the husk right off. Again, if you don't know, a black walnut's shell is VERY hard. Typically just driving over one will cause more abrasion on your tire than the nut's shell.

Well, I also remember Christmas break was the time to break last fall's walnuts. It is not easy to pop them open and not crush the tasty nut meat inside. A hammer and brick were my tools. Nut on the brick, down comes the hammer. If just the right force is used on just the right place of the nut's shell, it should pop right open. Too hard, and the nut will completely smash. Not hard enough and, well, try again...

That brings me to today. I am happily reliving old times with an old favorite recipe...

Banana Walnut Bread

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 & 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 335.
   
2. Blend butter and sugar in a low speed mixer until it obtains a grainy or crumbly consistency.
3. Add bananas, egg, salt, oatmeal and vanilla. Continue mixing until it is well blended.
4. Add baking soda and flour. Blend until it reaches a thick, but smooth consistency.
5. Remove from mixer and stir in the walnuts by hand.
6. Prepare a 9 x 9 cake pan or typical loaf pan by buttering the bottom and sides.
7. Place dough in pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes. When the top of the bread starts to brown, check every 5 minutes or so with a toothpick. Stick it in the center and when it comes out clean, it is done.
   

There are too many variations of this recipe for me to even start with. Modify as you desire. It is very flexible and forgiving, and is definitely one of my favorites & I hope it is one of yours.