COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR BARBARA PRONIN'S NEW WWII HISTORICAL NOVEL AND A RECIPE FOR CHALLAH

Brooklyn born Barbara Pronin is the author of nine novels acclaimed by such notables as Mary Higgins Clark, Tony Hillerman, and Faye Kellerman. Learn about this SoCal transplant and her books on her website.

Full disclosure: my newest novel, a WW II historical called Winter’s End, is not about a crafty killer. It is about three crafty killers, three amazing young women of the Dutch Resistance who learn to blow up trains and take out Nazi tyrants in their mission to help Jewish escapees and save their homeland from starvation in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. 

 

Led by young Evi Strobel, who, I swear, walked into my head one night and would not leave until I told her story, the three are as different as night and day, yet they work together like the tiles in a Rubik’s cube to outfox their Nazi enemies. 

 

Here is 16-yearold Evi, enticing Nazi officers from smoky taverns to their deaths until the fateful night when she is saved from rape by a downed American airman.

 

There is Dr. Zoe Visser, a veterinarian by trade, picking pockets for Dutch ID cards for use by escaping Jews, and leading frightened escapees to their border destinations in the dead of night. 

 

And here is Mila Brouwer, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy collaborator, passing secrets she learns at her father’s dinner table to waiting Resistance leaders.

 

Their stories evolve on several levels – as an unexpected love story, as a coming-of-age story, and as a tale of incredible bravery – a remarkable journey I fell in love with, from its beginnings in the cobblestoned streets of Amsterdam to its ending more than seventy years later and a world away, where one of these women learns to bake a delectable Sabbath challah from her Jewish-American mother-in-law.

 

Winter’s End will be published on May 15, but it is on pre-sale now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com. While you wait for it, you may want to try your hand at making a golden loaf of homemade challah bread. (It takes a bit of work, but trust me, it’s worth it!)

 

Golden Challah

(makes one loaf)

 

Ingredients:

1 packet dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1 cup warm water

1 egg

1/4-cup honey

3 tbs canola oil

1 tsp salt

4 ½ cl. Flour, approximately

 

For the egg wash:

1 egg

2 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. vanilla

 

Directions:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/4-cup warm water in a medium-sized bowl. Let sit about 15 minutes until thick and frothy.

 

Add the egg, honey, oil, salt, remaining 3/4-cup of water, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix until a loose batter forms. Add the remainder of flour slowly. You may need all, less, or more flour, so use your hands to add it in slowly. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Once the dough has enough flour, knead it for a couple of minutes right in the bowl.

 

Cover the dough with a wet towel and put it in a warm place to rise for about 1—1-1/2 hours. Dough should double in size.

 

Punch the dough down and let it rest for 10 minutes.

 

Divide the dough into thirds and with your hands, roll each piece into a long (13-14 inch) piece. Attach the three pieces at one end, tuck the end under, and braid the dough as you would if it were Evi‘s hair. Tuck the second end under, place the braided loaf on a lightly greased cookie sheet, and let it rise for another 30-40 minutes.

 

Beat the egg with the honey and vanilla and gently brush over the loaf. Bake at 375° F for approximately 35-45 minutes. Loaf should be golden on top, and firm on the bottom.

 

Winter’s End

Luring Nazi officers from smoky taverns to their deaths was not what Evi Strobel bargained for when she agreed to join the Dutch Resistance. But that is what she did until that fateful night she was saved from rape by a downed American Airman.

 

Nor did Zoe Visser expect to be picking pockets for Dutch ID cards for use by escaping Jews, much less leading frightened enemies of the Reich toward uncertain treks to the Belgian border - nor did Mila Brouwer, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy German collaborator, expect to be passing secrets learned at her father's dinner table to help Resistance stalwarts blow up Nazi trains and meeting halls.

 

But four years into German occupation, with the Dutch surviving on boiled tulip bulbs, and Hitler tightening control ahead of advancing Allies, that is what they did. Follow them as Winter's End traces a harrowing journey from the cobblestoned streets of Nazi-occupied Holland to an astonishing finale seventy years later and a world away.

 

Preorder (available 5/15/25)

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BLUEBERRY ZUCCHINI BREAD AND MUFFINS

Last fall I needed to remove a diseased ornamental plum tree from my front yard. While at the garden center to purchase a replacement tree, the horticulturist asked me about my zucchini crop. “What crop?” I asked with a frown.

Zucchini used to be the one produce I could grow, no matter what. I’d harvest so much from one plant, I’d wind up with a freezer full to use in soups and spaghetti sauce all winter. And that was after all the baking of zucchini bread and muffins, the stuffed zucchini, zucchini fritters, zucchini slaw, zucchini you-name-it.

But the last few years, even though I’d rotated where I placed my plants, my harvest had been zilch. Nada. Nothing. A big fat zero. Lovely looking plants that bore no fruit.

“Cheer up,” said the horticulturist. “You’ll have zucchini next summer. The bees are coming back.”

It turns out the bees had departed from my neck of the New Jersey suburbs the last few years. My zucchini plants weren’t getting pollinated. Thus, no zucchini.

So this year I planted my zucchini and held my breath. Sure enough, the horticulturist was right. The bees came back, and this year I’m harvesting zucchini once again.

I don’t know where the bees went or why they decided to leave. I’m just glad they decided to return. The other day I discovered a ginormous zucchini hiding under some leaves. Somehow I’d missed it when it was at optimum picking stage. And what better way to use a ginormous zucchini than make zucchini bread and muffins? And I still wound up with enough zucchini to make zucchini carrot slaw for dinner that night and freeze six cups for future use! That was one ginormous zucchini!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread and Muffins

Yield: one loaf and 6 muffins

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup canola oil

3 tsp. vanilla

2-1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 T. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 pt. fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set aside 1/4 cup flour.

Lightly grease one loaf pan and one 6-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar approximately one minute. Fold in zucchini.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to wet ingredients, stirring until incorporated. Fold in pecans.

Toss blueberries in reserved flour. Fold into batter.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Pour remaining batter into loaf pan. Bake muffins 20-25 minutes, loaf pan 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes on wire rack. Remove from pans and continue cooling.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAD

This Blueberry Banana Bread was so tempting that my husband ate half of it before I had a chance to take a photo!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Note: This recipe doesn't require an electric mixture. Just use a whisk and a spoon.

Ingredients:

1 very ripe banana

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

juice and zest of one small lemon

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 heaping cup frozen blueberries, defrosted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 4” x 8” pan.

Using fork, mash banana until smooth. Whisk in melted butter.

Mix together baking soda, salt, and sugar. Whisk into banana/butter mixture.

Whisk together egg, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest. Mix into batter.

Coat blueberries with small amount of flour. Mix remaining flour into batter. Fold in blueberries.

Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool on wire rack.