Today at Cozy Up With Kathy I'm pleased to share a recipe from the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series by G. P. Gottleib along with my review of BATTERED, the first book in the series.
Ginger-Molasses Cookies GF. V.
2 ½ cups old fashioned or steel cut oats
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine-grained sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger (or fresh ginger if you can get it)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup packed coconut or dark brown sugar
¼ cup canola or coconut oil
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
1 TBSP unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
· Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and spray or line 2 cookie sheets
· In a processor or high-speed blender, blend oats into a fine flour, about 60 to 90 seconds
· Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar – 30 seconds or until blended
· In a medium to large bowl, combine oil, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla
· Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir together with a spatula
· Moisten with 1 or 2 TBSP water if needed to form balls
· Use a small scooper or wet hands to form 20-26 (1 inch/25mm) loose balls, placing 10 to 13 balls on each cookie sheet (these cookies will spread just a little)
· Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown (if you over bake, they’ll be yummy but dry)
· Remove from the oven and let them cool before eating.
OPTIONAL:1½ cup unsalted roasted almonds can be used in place of one cup of oats
I keep these chewy cookies in the freezer (zap 30 seconds in a microwave). Sometimes I make a little sandwich with a piece of banana in the middle, but mostly I just grab them for little bursts of gingery deliciousness.
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Review
The First Whipped and Sipped Mystery
Alene Baron's childhood dream came true when she was able to buy a cafe from Gary, a good family friend. Selling it at well below cost, his only stipulation was to keep his daughter and sister employed. While Alene loves having Kacey working with her, despite her trouble with addiction, Gary's sister is another story. Still, she's happy to have a community spot where she can give people second chances while her best friend creates delicious vegan delights! But tragedy strikes when Gary is found dead inside a neighbor's apartment. Who could have killed him? While Alene practically saw him as a saint, pretty much everyone she runs into becomes a suspect in her mind. Despite a good looking detective handling the case, Arlene wants to do everything she can to find the killer herself.
I enjoyed the mystery behind the first Whipped and Sipped Mystery. There were a lot of plausible suspects each with decent motives. But while the mystery was intriguing, especially when combined with the death of another neighbor eight years earlier and financial misdealings at a company, for the most part I did not like the characters. The big exception was Detective Frank Shaw. The majority of the characters were flat out awful people, Arlene's ex husband and his best friend as well both Gary's ex and current wife and most of their adult children. Arlene's eldest child is a sarcastic and rude twelve year old. Ruthie seems nice, but we don't really get to know her at all. The interconnectedness of all these people, most of them even live in the same apartment building was a little creepy.
With a ragtag cast of characters BATTERED brings together vegan and vegetarian treats in a unique mystery.
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About The Whipped and Sipped Cozy Mystery Series
Welcome to Whipped & Sipped—where the pastries are guilt-free, the coffee is strong, and the gossip might just get you killed. Murder is on the menu—served warm with muffins and lattes.
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Illinois
Publisher: Anamcara Press LLC
Publication Date: September 10, 2025
Print Length: 284 pages
Alene Baron has built more than a café—she’s built a community. At Whipped & Sipped, customers linger over Ruthie’s decadent-but-healthy desserts, children flock to Saturday story hour, and knitting groups craft blankets for refugee families. Alene prides herself on knowing her patrons so well she can often place “a wholegrain blueberry muffin on the counter before the customer themselves knew” they wanted it.
But when her neighbor and close friend is murdered, Alene’s cozy world begins to unravel. Suddenly, everyone she knows could be a suspect, and she starts noticing the smallest inconsistencies, furtive glances, and unexplained comings and goings around the café. With each clue and misstep, Alene pieces together a tangled web of secrets, realizing that danger may be closer than she ever imagined—and that her own family could be in the killer’s sights.
With her sharp eye for detail, wry sense of humor, and fierce devotion to her children, Alene steps into the role of amateur sleuth. But in a community where tempers flare over hot chocolate, grudges linger for years, and secrets hide beneath friendly smiles, finding the killer may prove harder than whipping up the perfect soufflé.
Battered, the first in G.P. Gottlieb’s Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series, is a delectable blend of mouthwatering recipes, quirky neighborhood drama, and page-turning suspense. Perfect for fans of culinary cozies, it’s a tale where friendship, food, and murder are always on the menu.
About G.P. Gottlieb
G. P. Gottlieb has been a musician, teacher, and administrator, but she’s happiest writing recipe-laced murder mysteries and inventing mostly vegetarian recipes that are nothing like what she learned in courses at Chicago’s French Pastry School. Gottlieb is active in Sisters in Crime (Chicago and Colorado) and has interviewed over 275 authors as a host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. She writes stories and essays that are published in a variety of journals and blogs, is a mother and grandmother, and lives with her husband in a Chicago high-rise that is strikingly similar to the building portrayed in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.gpgottlieb.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gpgottlieb.bsky.social
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorgottlieb/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whippedsipped/
Medium.com: https://medium.com/@gpgottlieb
Substack: Recently started - https://substack.com/@gpgottlieb
Twitter: https://x.com/GottliebGp
Purchase Links:
- BATTERED Bookshop.Org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, Thalia, Fable, Palace Marketplace, Vivlio, or Everand
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