Nut-Free Black Walnut Brownies

I know someone who tries to avoid eating nuts because of digestive issues.  While any brownie recipe can be made with or without nuts, brownies without black walnuts are a disappointment.  However, I have found what seems to be a reasonable workaround.

I saw some black walnut oil at Wal-Mart on a shopping trip last spring and decided to get it to see how it tasted.  The label hinted at flavor--some oils are very subtle, with olive oil being the most obvious exception.  It was also fairly pricey.

I put them into this recipe, adapted from tasteofhome.com:

2 1/2 sticks of butter (1 1/4 c), softened but not melted [note this is slightly reduced]

2 2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups white flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

...and I normally add a cup of nuts.  I substituted 3/4 cup black walnut oil and 1 stick of butter for the fat instead of all butter.  And, since I'm an inveterate whole grain lover, I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour.  I used dark chocolate cocoa powder and Whey Low as the sweetener. The result needs baking longer than the 30 minutes advertised on the site--especially since, I have recently learned, my oven runs about 10 degrees cool (I suppose I should just up the temperature I bake everything at, but I've grown accustomed to it).

The result (apologies for the bad picture below) was more cakey than fudgy, but there was a noticeable black walnut flavor.  Overall, it worked well.