Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers – Galit’s Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies from Molly MacRae

 

In this edition of Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers we’re celebrating Galit (G.P.) Gottlieb’s Whipped & Sipped Mysteries. Specifically, we’re celebrating the re-release of this tasty culinary series with all-new, eye-catching cover art.

The series follows Chicagoan Alene Baron through her busy life as a single mom, the owner of the Whipped & Sipped coffee shop/café, and more recently as an amateur sleuth. Alene has the skills for all three, and the books prove that even a city the size of Chicago has neighborhood pockets of small-town charm.

To make this happen, Galit places the café mere blocks from the lakeview building where Alene lives with her three children and her father. Alene grew up in the building, as did many of the other residents. They drop in on each other, drop in at other local businesses, share secrets, spread rumors, and a few of them apparently solve their problems with a spot of murder. It’s everything you expect from a community where everyone knows everyone else’s business—or think they do.

The books, in order, are: Battered, Smothered, and Charred. Each one includes delicious, healthy recipes and you’ll find even more recipes on Galit’s website. The latest Whipped & Sipped rumor is that she’s busy concocting book 4 in the series. For a fun window into Galit’s writing life, read a guest blog she wrote for Writers Who Kill in November 2025.

Galit puts a refreshing spin on the small-town culinary cozy. Her books look great with their fresh new covers. Now here’s her recipe for a classic cookie—refreshed and healthy!

 

Galit’s Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies – vegan and gluten-free

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned gluten-free oats (While oats are naturally gluten free, did you know that the package of oats in your cupboard might not be? Unless the oats are certified to be gluten-free they might be cross-contaminated with gluten from other grains processed in the same facility.)

2 tablespoons flax meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup plain tahini

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Spray two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. In a food processor, blend the oats, flax meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until uniform.

Add the brown sugar, oil, tahini, water, and vanilla. Blend just until the mixture is smooth, no more.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, stir in the chocolate chips, and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

With wet hands, form 24 balls. Place 12 balls on each cookie sheet. Bake each sheet until cookies are beginning to turn golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on the sheets for at least 10 minutes. From Galit: If you try to nab one before it’s cool, it will fall apart!

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.