brownies with nuts on top! cookies! can you make pralines with walnuts instead of pecans? Use them in salads with goat cheese and a berry vinaigrette. Crush them use in a topping on a apple crumble or crisp.

I also just love eating them by themselves. I associate cracking nuts with winter. I keep a huge bowl of mixed nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.) in my living room with a nut cracker to snack on whenever!

Send them to me!

That related link up there adds the good ideas of muhammara spread and pumpkin-walnut purée for ravioli filling.

Walnut pesto is another option that comes to mind.
I like to add chopped walnuts to stuffing used for filling stuffed veggies. In the summer I like to do stuffed round zucchini with beluga lentils, bulgar, chopped walnuts, parsley, mint, dried apricots, olive oil & lemon juice. I think a variation with winter squash might be nice too. Or maybe you could work them into your Thanksgiving stuffing.
There's also the Mexican dish, Chiles en Nogada, stuffed poblanos in walnut sauce.

On the sweet side, baklava is a good way to use up a good amount of walnuts.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/fig-salami-097690
That fig salami includes walnuts as well.

But really, save yourself the trouble and send them to me. :)

you could make walnut butter! just put them in a food processor and keep going until it's smooth and creamy. You can toast the nuts first if you wish as well. Store it in the fridge and then microwave for a few seconds to make it soft and spreadable if needed.

I would also suggest packaging some up for gifts. Plus with the holiday season coming up, it is a great excuse to find as many recipes as possible to use those walnuts in. You could bring along your baked goods to various holiday get-togethers and give those out as gifts too.
After that, I'd definitely suggest freezing what you can't use up right away because they'll keep in the freezer for awhile.

You could contact a local food bank or soup kitchen to see if they are interested.

Give them away to neighbouring lab groups? Have a department dinner and invite other lab groups (pot-luck style!), and give everyone who attends a big gift bag of walnuts. You could even use up some in the cooking: walnut-themed dinner!

Walnut pesto or pasta with walnut sauce. You can google both and get all kinds of recipes. If you're really ambitious, you can grind them and make walnut flour. You can make walnut bread and walnut cake with both walnut flour or whole walnuts.

For the time being, freeze them so they don't go to waste. Contacting the local soup kitchen is a terrific idea, especially with Thanksgiving coming up, and extra meals to be prepared. I just bought 10 ounces of walnuts for $5 so your donation would be a true windfall for them.

Have you ever tried Walnut Burgers? They're a fun change from the meat version.

Could you grind them and make walnut flour? I believe there are some cake recipes that use almond flour, but not sure if you can do it with walnuts.

I second freezing them for the time being-I keep all my nuts this way.

Pickle them!

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pickled_walnuts

http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/the-pickled-walnuts-project-stage-two-plus-free-original-recipes-for-spiced-pickling-vinegar-792

How about making some of them into a wreath?
http://www.marthastewart.com/goodthings/nut-wreath

donate to a food bank? :) especially this time of year, they would probably be super appreciative :)

I bet some of the squirrels in your neighbourhood would like to munch on some, as well! Apparently squirrels can starve to death over long winters. I'm not saying give all the nuts to the squirrels, definitely donate some to a food bank and maybe give lots of walnut baking goodies away for the holidays this year.

plant them so there are walnut trees for the next generation

Send some to me!! =D
Or make lots of baked goodies for the holidays.
Freeze them in the meantime!!

What about making walnut oil?

craigslist! :)
yeah, i second (and third) the above - def call food pantries and kitchens to see if the want some. or call me if you live in chicago, and i'll take 20# off your hands. heh.

Shell and freeze them - they will last a good long time this way! If you did want to make a gift out of them you could make candy walnuts with a hint of spice - they are yum-o

http://olivesanddaisies.blogspot.com/

so many nuts to do all the above suggestions! but can i add another vote for sending some of them to a food bank? i brought valentine's chocolates to the soup kitchen one valentine's day and it was amazing how much people lit up over getting a simple chocolate candy. people would really enjoy a nice treat like fresh walnuts!

as for usage, i would be all over banana walnut bread. yum! and walnuts in pancakes, whole wheat bread, on oatmeal, in cookies, tossed over whole wheat pasta with goat cheese and bitter greens. omg and maybe homemade turtles with walnuts? enjoy!

Toast and smash and mix in with brown rice.. yumm.. nutty.. textures.. OMG.

Raw food pies!!

Seriously though, a lot of raw foodists use nuts as crusts for their pies and stuff - the crusts are usually a mixture of walnuts (food processed) mixed with dates. Pretty tasty! Then add a tasty filling, and give em out to friends.

Walnuts are surprisingly good as meat alternatives (they taste just like the real thing). There are lots of great meatball and burger recipes for them if you just google it.

Hey All,

Lauren here. I can't believe I didn't think of taking the walnuts to soup kitchens. This just got moved to the top of my list. Thank you all for your clever and thoughtful ideas.

Substitute pine nuts with walnuts in your favorite pesto recipe.

Sending some to me is a fantastic idea.