My dear MIL Emma taught me this trick with pinto beans. Say you have a recipe that calls for walnuts, but you have none. Take some half cooked Pinto's, they should be firm but cutable, they should have just started to change from mottled to brown, sort of grayish. Cool them down and chop them into the right size and incorporate them into any baked dish, works wonderful in brownies or carrot cake. After the cake is cooked, they look, taste and have the exact mouth feel of walnuts. My kids could never taste the difference. This would be wonderful for children with a nut allergy. My kids did not have a nut allergy but we did have a very tight budget. Pinto's were a lot cheaper than walnuts.