Page 421 - Chocolate Cake Doctor

C O O K I E S , B A R S , A N D B R O W N I E S
BANANA BLACK WALNUT T
BANANA BLACK WALNU
BROWNIE
BROWNIES S
lack walnuts har-
vested from your
own trees are a lot
of work, but delicious. I remember
my father silently gathering the
green walnuts from the hillside, let-
ting them cure through the fall in
plastic barrels in the basement
until they turned black as coal, and
then shooing eager squirrels out of
the basement so they didn’t raid his
stash. But this was just the begin-
ning. By wintertime, we removed
the messy black hulls, which
stained our hands and clothes, and
my father would crack those wal-
nuts purposefully with a hammer
on the basement’s cold, hard con-
crete floor. We heard about people
driving their cars back and forth
403
over black walnuts just to
loosen the hull and split
the shell, but that was too
reckless for my dad. When a fire
was going in the fireplace, we’d sit
around and pick out and eat the
sweet meat inside. Black walnuts
might have been work (much like
raising children), but their flavor
was sweet and pronounced, unlike
any other food. I hope you enjoy
them in this easy banana-chocolate
brownie. You don’t need to harvest
your own—you can buy black wal-
nuts at the natural foods store.
MAKES: 24 SQUARES
PREPARATION TIME: 12 MINUTES
BAKING TIME: 20 TO 25 MINUTES
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan