Back when my Other Half and I were just embarking on the long-distance relationship that would ultimately lead to us keeping all our cookbooks under one roof, he confessed a deep nostalgic fondness for the taste of black walnuts. He had told me about the black walnut tree that was by the driveway when he was growing up. And he had related how they used to shell the nuts by the expedient of first driving the car over them to remove the outer husk, then using a nutcracker on the hard inner shell—black walnuts are the proverbial tough nut to crack!
So when (during that first holiday season, which we spent 1500 miles apart) I decided to make and send him a package of Christmas cookies, I thought of black walnuts. After looking around at various recipes, I settled on a recipe for Pecan Bars in The Southern Living Cookbook (my old copy, about which, more here—the recipe in the new edition is somewhat different). I intended to merely substitute black walnuts for the pecans, but I ended up making another inadvertent substitution as well.
The original recipe called for dark corn syrup, and when I looked in my (somewhat neglected at that time) larder for ingredients, sure enough, there was a bottle of dark syrup that I took to be the thing. It was only after stirring the syrup in with the rest of the ingredients that I noticed (to my dismay) that what I’d just added wasn’t plain dark corn syrup at all. It was something called King Po-T-Rik, which, on examination of the ingredients, turned out to be predominately made up of molasses and dark corn syrup. Oh.
.
I decided to muddle through (there’s at least some dark corn syrup in there, right? Right?), and went ahead with the process. Turns out, the flavors of black walnuts and molasses go pretty well together. I sent off the resulting cookies, and now Other Half has a certain nostalgic fondness for the taste of black walnut bars, too. (Complete with impromptu substitution.) Whichever cookies I make for the holidays, these are always among them.
First, the crust…
Be sure to thoroughly grease the baking pan before pressing the crust mixture into it—these are sticky, gooey cookies!
Then, while the crust bakes, there’s time to mix the filling.
If you can’t find King Po-T-Rik syrup, just substitute 1/2 cup dark corn syrup and 1/2 cup molasses. Stir the pecans black walnuts in last.
Pour the filling over the crust and bake immediately. If you’re distracted—oh, taking photographs or something—and don’t get the crust into the oven right away, the filling will seep down around the edges, and the bars will be an extra sticky-gooey mess. (Don’t) Ask me how I know this.
The original recipe says “Bake until firm”. I’ve found that the edges are always firmer than the middle, and the balance lies between getting the middle baked enough, while avoiding the edges getting too over-crisped. These are pretty messy to cut because they’re so sticky, but even if the corners aren’t quite precise, they disappear too quickly to notice!
Black Walnut Bars
(Adapted from Pecan Bars recipe in The Southern Living Cookbook)
Crust:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (3 oz.) firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
Filling:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (9 oz.)
4 eggs
1 cup King Po-T-Rik Syrup (11.5 oz.)
(can substitute 1/2 cup dark corn syrup + 1/2 cup molasses for King Syrup)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup chopped black walnuts
For the crust, combine flour and 1/3 cup brown sugar; cut in 3/4 cup butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press the crust mixture into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes
For the filling, combine all ingredients but the walnuts and whisk until thoroughly blended and smooth. Stir in the black walnuts and pour over the crust.
Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until firm. Let cool, and cut into bars.
A Month of Sundries 
Leave a Reply