Lactation Cookies.
No, never did I ever think I would be typing “lactation” and “cookies” in the same sentence and especially not on my blog.
But these
are
GOOD.
Here is my take on lactation cookies: I don’t know if the COOKIES really work, but I do believe that the key ingredients (oats, brewers yeast, coconut oil, flax) work. I sort of think that the cookies are an excuse to… eat cookies? But in a good way! Also, this is why I think they are so great – in those first few weeks, and heck, even now, I was so freaking hungry, like had never been so hungry in my life. Having something quick to grab, like something even quicker than a banana and almond butter, was imperative while in survival mode. Especially in the middle of the night.
Even since having Max, I’ve developed this hangry hunger every morning, to a point where if I don’t eat something very soon after waking, I feel physically sick. Most likely because he is taking calories from me at night? I’ve never dealt with that before. So having one of these as a snack in the middle of the night or even right when I wake up is a complete LIFESAVER.
Now, these are cookies. Like actual taste-good cookies. I tried a few recipes in the last couple weeks that tasted like cardboard and were drier than dirt. I wanted to make actual enjoyable cookies, ones I wanted to eat, ones I’d be happy to grab twice a day, maybe three times.
The texture: These are thick cookies, not cakey at all, slightly crunchy, but not in a bad or stale way – they are crunchy from the crazy amount of rolled oats inside. I wrote the recipe exactly as I’ve been making them – meaning mostly organic ingredients. Feel free to use non-organic ingredients and what you have on hand.
I know you’ll probably have questions on what you can substitute, what you can leave out or add, what you can change and so on, so I’ve added some notes below the recipe. These will taste best written EXACTLY as is. But I know that sometimes you gotta make some changes! I really, really suggest leaving the amount of fat/butter in the cookies – it adds to the calorie value and new moms need those calories! It will also help the cookie to be a more filling “snack.”
If you want to gift these to a new mom, I would make a batch and bake them, then make a batch and freeze them. Or bake half a batch and freeze the other half. Deliver both. Making a freshly baked double batch isn’t great because the cookies aren’t super soft and moist and that number of cookies will dry out before eaten. Unless of course their family will eat them too. If you’re a mom-to-be, you can totally make these ahead of time – scoop the dough into rounds, flash freeze it then place them in a ziplock bag. My friend Julie has a great tutorial on freezing cookie dough!
Do you have an awesome lactation cookie recipe? If so, share below!
What the video of how I make my Lactation Cookies!
Lactation Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached organic all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons brewers yeast
- 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons unrefined organic virgin coconut oil
- 1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips/chunks, I like ghirardelli
- feel free to add: unsweetened flaked coconut chopped almonds, 1 to 2 tablespoons of almond butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven the 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, yeast, flaxseed, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and coconut oil on medium speed until creamy. Add in the sugar and beat on medium to high speed until fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add in the egg and egg yolk, beating until combined, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and beat until combined again. Gradually add in the dry ingredients, beating on low speed until just combined and mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula until they are evenly dispersed.
- Scoop the dough into 1-inch rounds (I use an ice cream scoop so they are fairly uniform in size) and place on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until the bottoms are just golden. Let cool completely before storing in a sealed container.
Notes
2. You can use all butter if you don’t have/can’t find coconut oil. If you swap any butter amount for more coconut oil, the cookies will spread a bit more. If you decrease the fat (butter/oil) amount in total, these cookies will be drier. It’s up to you!
3. You can use 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour with similar results – any more and the cookies with be drier and grittier.
4. You can probably decrease the sugar by 1/4 cup without issue.
5. I do not have experience in making these vegan, so I can’t say what it would be like without the eggs or with vegan butter. I also am not sure how the consistency would be with gluten free flour.
6. I personally think you can increase the brewers yeast amount by 1 to 2 tablespoons.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
1,220 Comments on “Lactation Cookies.”
MAKING A SECONG BATCH FOR MY DAUGHTER. SHE LOVES THEM.
These are absolutely amazing. I make them for our daughters as well as any friend who has a baby! Everyone swears they really work ♡
Thank you so much for this recipe. Can’t say if they are helping with my lactation yet but they delicious. I bought brownies from a website for $20 and they were good, but they were $20! This is exactly what I needed for a quick treat at home.
I made these cookies for myself (9 months pp) and my sister in law (gave birth 2 days ago) and they are DELICIOUS!!! I cant taste the brewers yeast at all so I think next time I make them I will add another tablespoon or 2 for an extra boost! My husband and 2 of his friends ended up eating multiple and loved them as well! I tweaked the recipe a little as I like chewy cookies, I used 3 whole eggs, all brown sugar, and melted the butter instead of using room temp! They spread great and were cooked perfectly in 10 minutes!! I added about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the batter at the end for the last 15ish cookies and they are great that way too, they just did not spread as much! I ate about 4-5 last night while making them and I pumped about 4 ounces more than usual this morning!!! I highly recommend these cookies and will definitely make them again!
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Can this be made without brewers yeast for kids ?
Can all purpose be replace with whole wheat ? If yes how much?
If we half the recipe how much egg to use ?
Is almond butter or coconut flake must ?
It seems like you’re looking for an entirely different recipe.
I’m like 6 years too late to comment, but I’ve made these 4 times. Every time they come out dry and crumbly. They never flatten and turn into hockey pucks. I am following the instructions to a T. No supplementing. 100% following. I don’t know what I’m doing. They taste great. But after 2 days I can’t even eat them.
You’re probably over beating once your dry ingredients are in. When placing in your dry ingredients, mix on a low speed and just until combined. Once adding in the chocolate chips or any extras at the end I always mix mine in by hand to avoid over beating. This goes for any cookie recipe, and especially muffins. Dry, tough cookies are usually from over mixing your batter. Good luck!
I just had to leave a comment. These are the best cookies ever! I love how cake like they can be when only using flour (Ugh I had just run out of oats). The second time with the correct ingredients they were just as tasty. Thanks for sharing!!
Made these for a new mom friend and tried one and they are AMAZING. is it bad to eat them if not nursing? Haha. Well done with creating this.
These are amazing. I just frozen 4 batches for my daughter who is due with baby 2 this week.
What is the calorie count on these?
Probably HIGH. But that’s good because new mamas need all the extra (healthy) calories they can get! Breastfeeding burns on average an extra 500 calories per day!
Based on my calculation I believe them to be around 116 per cookie (my batch made 39 cookies. And I should note, I added one extra tbsp brewed yeast!)
These are very tasty! I made them as per recipe instructions the first time and felt like there was too many chocolate chips….I know!! So second batch I used 1 cup of choc. chips and half cup of unsweetened coconut and they turned out so nice. As for the milk production, I ate many of these over the course of a few days and didn’t notice a huge difference. However, I do really like this recipe and will be keeping it. The addition of the coconut flavours is really yummy with the chocolate and oatmeal.
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How long do they last baked vs frozen?
These are amazingly delicious!!! I added some shredded coconut and cocoa powder. Soooo good. Thank you!
Delicious! My daughter-in-law loved them. I actually substituted almond four, Lily’s sugar-free chips and “Just Like Sugar” and the taste was still amazing as well as gluten-free and sugar-free. Not sure if that makes a difference on the lactating quality but they tasted great.
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I bake a lot. I search for so many recipes all the time. I make goodies all the time for my husbands co-workers and their spouses our friends and family especially since COVID hit to help raise morale at the hospital he works at. I came across this recipe about a year ago (I think?) and I use it ALL THE TIME for the breastfeeding new moms in the hospital family. Seriously, all the time. I found it when looking to bake myself some after I had my twins and I fell in love with this recipe. This easily makes over 4 dozen cookies. It is such a delicious recipe. I have probably made this over a couple of dozen times since finding it. Thank you for sharing this!
I LOVE THESE COOKIES! I added unsweetened shredded coconut and half the chocolate chips and they were amazing! Thet worked for me with helping increase my milk supple by a couple oz. I will definitely be making them again!
MY second time making these. I use 3 tbs of black chia seeds, raisins, cut up dates, and only 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of sugar and they are great!
These really are very good! I used Oat Mama Brewer’s Yeast (14oz) which, while a bit pricier, was not bitter and was a welcome alternative to buying a giant tub of the stuff that would just sit in my pantry forever. I followed the recipe “to a t,” but recommend only baking for 7 minutes. The cookies will look underdone when you take them out of the oven, but they continue cooking off-heat and will set beautifully. Leave them on the cookie sheet untouched for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack until completely cool. They stayed soft for days. Yum!
These just crumble, so I’m eating them with a spoon. Oh well. They taste OK at least. Anything for my baby!
Might have been an error in making them. Mine weren’t this way and taste yummy and help with milk supply!
Wonderful recipe! I know for a fact that coconut oil increases breast milk, and makes it creamier for baby. Thank you so much for the receipt.
These are amazing! Just wondering what the nutrition is on them…? it says 0 for everything on your nutrition info
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Delicious! My go to snack in between breastfeeding it works! Just wanna ask what’s the shelf life of the cookies? Thanks
No idea if these increase milk production (I’m 8 months pregnant and making these in advance), but these cookies are delicious. I agree with previous comments that recipe as written is on the dry/crumbly side, especially if you add in the optional coconut flakes (I added in about 1/2 cup of coconut flakes). I made the following adjustments to a second batch, which made the dough is easier to work with and the cookie still tasted great:
– Increased butter by 2 tablespoons
– Used 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar
– Used 2 whole eggs
– Used 2 whole tablespoons of almond butter
I also recommend flattening the cookies slightly before baking so they spread a little bit more and baking for no longer than 12 minutes. Happy baking!
Well I made this (I’m a baker) but it did not come out like recipe said. There were not enough wet ingredients to hold the dry ingredients together. I had to add a little extra wet ingredients and squish the dough together. When baked they crumble apart. Tried baking them soft and baking them crunchy. Both times still had crumbly cookies. They don’t taste very flavorful either. I feel like I would have to add a bunch more sugar and chocolate chips to make it tastes better.
Not sure what happened but it just did not work out well and now I have a gigantic batch of crumbly cookie dough made with expensive ingredients. Feels like a waste unless someone can tell me how to mend it.
You may have over beaten? They did not come out crumbly at all for me.
I made these this evening. I was nervous because I read reviews they came out dry and crumbled. I followed the recipe as instructed but because I am dairy free for my little one I substituted parve (non dairy) margarine for the butter and they turned out perfectly! And they taste amazing. Now hopefully they help me keep up with my fast growing girl! Thank you!
These are the best cookies I have made. Followed tge recipe exactly and tgey came of delicious!! Thank you so much for the recipe. Not sure if this will increase the breastmilk but surely is tasty!!
So I followed the recipe with the exception of the coconut oil. I was completely out so I just increased the butter. Followed all other instructions and once I mixed the dry into the wet ingredients you could tell there was definitely not enough wet ingredients to hold these together.. I triple checked the recipe to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I had to squeeze the dough in my hand to form a ball it was so crumbly. Just took the first 2 days from the oven and they never spread… they taste good. So tomorrow I’m going to try it again with a few modifications.
These are delicious, even though I’m not sure what my daughter messed up (I was on the couch power pumping-sigh). The dough was super dry and crumbly, we did use Country Crock Plant Butter (almond oil type) and dairy free chocolate chips. The cookies ended up very dry and crunchy, but taste awesome.
Hi there! Going to make these but I don’t have a blender like in the video. What can I use instead?
These cookies have kept me going as a mom. I’m making them now to mail to a far away friend who recently had a baby but had to make 2 batches for myself in the process (one that I never sent and then a double batch to insure I mailed one).
Cookies were sooo good!!! Even the dough haha!
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How many cookies should be eaten per day? Is there an estimated science for these yet as to how many cookies are an average for x extra oz pumped? 😂🤔. If figured not and probably different per person, but figured I would ask.
Thank you and I have a batch in the oven as we speak! So excited to try
Can you use a substitute for chocolate chips?
how many should you eat a day? I could eat them all but that may be obsessive….. I also don’t wanna look like I’m still pregnant lol. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Wow these are amazing! My new favorite cookie to bake. I picked them out to bake for my sister and left a couple for our home and when I tasted them I couldn’t stop. I didn’t even add the sugar at all, instead I added a touch of honey and some coconut powder. These are truly great, thank you for sharing this recipe – I’ll surely be making them again.
Excited to make! Can you use salted butter? If so, would you suggest modifying amount of salt?
I made these for my 7-month pregnant daughter-in-law. Followed recipe exactly and they were amazing. My husband also enjoyed a few. I baked a dozen then I froze the dough so she could bake them whenever she wanted.
Not sure if they do much for lactation, but the taste, my God! Best cookie recipe in general really. I add toasted coconut and pulse all the dry ingredients together about 15-20 times before mixing with wet ingredients. I’ve made my third batch in last 6 weeks, since my husband and 4 year old son just eat them all!
Cookies turned out great! Added coconut to one batch and I will definitely do that again. Yummy