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.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to follow @howsweeteats on instagram and tag #howsweeteats. You can also post a photo of your recipe to our facebook page.
I appreciate you so much!
1,152 Comments on “Lactation Cookies.”
Ok, I did review on November 16 & said I would do follow-up. I added I cup creamy peanut butter & OMG these are great! So, I put dark chocolate chips, peanut butter, walnuts & coconut in as extras. My daughter LOVES them.
Did you replace some of the butter with the peanut butter? Or just added the peanut butter and kept the same amount of butter?
Can anyone tell me how much their supply increased after these?
I normally make a recipe exactly as written the first time, but this was nearly identical to the last lactation cookie recipe I tried so I made some tweaks I’d intended to do with the other recipe (like swapping half the sugar for brown sugar and replacing one cup of chips with raisins for a change). I did prefer these cookies to the first ones I tried in flavor. Using all white sugar is fine if you just like sweet, but it feels like it’s missing depth which the brown sugar fixes. I knew this recipe would make more than the 20-22 cookies it claims to make because the recipe is doubled in almost every ingredient from the last one I tried, and I was right. It made exactly 48 cookies using a 1.5 T cookie scoop (which is about a 1-inch round). The cookies in her photo look to be twice the width of mine, so I can only assume the 1-inch round instruction was a typo (or her cookies spread more than mine). After seeing one reviewer mention adding peanut butter, I took 1/4 of the recipe and tossed in 1/4 c peanut butter. Here’s to hoping they turn out as delicious as the main recipe!
Pingback: The Ultimate DIY Non-Toxic and Natural Postpartum Kit For A New Mom -
I found the recipe very useful and though they were dry and bitter it has given me a good base to work from. I added a few mashed up bananas to my last 12 that I baked which did help with the bitterness. I found having them with a glass of milk helps with the bitterness too. I will tweak the recipe next time to hide more bitterness but found it easy to make. Also with a ice cream scoop to measure each cookie I made nearly 50 cookies with the mixture! Think it’s the conversion of cups to grams as needed for my UK scales. It would be good if recipes here did state Grams too, as that was a faff.
Very easy recipe to follow though if you make a double batch make sure you have a very big container! Made the cookies small like the Milkmakers Lactation Cookie Bites, was rolling the cookies for a while, especially with a double batch, but definitely worth it! Taste definitely better as well. With this recipe you can do some much with additions/tweaking since it’s so simple already. The only thing I had to order was the Brewer’s Yeast. Honestly cheaper to make than going out and buying the cookies. Can’t wait make my next batch but I have a feeling it’ll be a moment with all the mini cookies I have currently!
Love it. I make it everyweek!
These people must not know how to bake. I have made these twice. Both times delicious and not dry. I did not use all organic ingredients. I think in order for them to not be dry you need to make sure you cream the butter and coconut oil until it truly is Fluffy and thick. I used a smaller cookie scoop and got 37 nice-sized cookies. These definitely helped with my Supply as well.
Great tasting cookies however I found them to be really dry. I added dried cranberries which shouldn’t have effected the moisture. Also makes a ton of cookies. Will probably 1/2 it next time.
These are delicious! Made a few changes and super pleased with the results.
Pingback: FOOD FOR NEW PARENTS : CRUNCHY LUNCHY LENTILS – dudis bistro bar
I baked these cookies yesterday. I dont know if these will work for me or not but they are super yummy. Thank you somuch for sharing the recipe.
These cookies are the best tasting chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. The flavour and texture are perfect. I’ve been making them regularly for the past few months. Love the recipe thank you!
Amazing.. This recipe doesn’t taste bitter at all! No funny after taste too like other lactation cookies recipe. A little too sweet for my personal preference. Next time when I bake again, will either take out 1/4cup of sugar or add one more tbsp of brewer yeast for the extra boost. Added almond nuts for extra crunch. Also malt powder for the depth of flavour. I browned the butter instead of using softened room temp butter.
Overall great recipe. Definitely a keeper.
I love this recipes though it’s not as crunchy as I wanted it. I used honey instead of sugar and brewers yeast in stead of the usual baking yeast
Interesting I mixed the flour- whole wheat and oats flour
I also added my diy flax meal (which has flask seed, almond, chai seed and pumpkin seeds).
I love these but anyone try making as a bar cookie ? would be much more time efficient
I made them yesterday for the second time, and even when I looove chocolate (especially dark chocolate), I try them with raisins this time and I like them better than the ones I made with chocolate chips. Does anybody has tried to make a version with chocolate powder and chocolate chips? I think I want to try that on my next batch.
The first batch I made I followed the instructions and found the cookies to be a bit dry and the Brewer’s yeast flavor was a little too strong. Second time around I added an extra egg and did half the sugar as brown sugar and felt this second batch was much better.
Did your second batch spread better? I’m finding it difficult to get them to spread and removing 1/2 a cup of flour didn’t do anything.
My second batch spread like normal cookies. They’re still a bit puffy but don’t look like rocks. I used a cookie scoop. I should also add that instead of using ground flaxseeds I used whole flaxseeds, so maybe that made has something to do with it?
Hello, may I ask if ground flaxseed is the same as Organic Golden Flaxseed that looks something like this (https://www.lazada.sg/products/simply-natural-organic-golden-flaxseeds-i304280275-s538462852.html?exlaz=d_1:mm_150050845_51350205_2010350205::12:11313604512!110158287999!!!pla-678669693104!c!678669693104!538462852!132052768&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_qD_BRDiARIsANjZ2LDZiNHsmUZVGQiEwnXhgZdj8y9aqJxXN7z0lPRe26MmC3BggUD1GBMaAqnXEALw_wcB)?
Thank you so much!
I wish these biscuits worked for me. I’ve tried everything.
Eaten 3 per day for 4 days now and not one bit of difference. Ingredients is expensive too.
I Guess I’ll keep pumping my milk 6 times a day and give on side plus formula, because 40mls of feed per go isn’t enough. Sadly after 3 months she finally stopped feeding from me due to my lack of milk. At least my 200mls of breast milk per day is better than nothing and I guess. So frustrating, as I never had trouble with my son.
I got more milk from proscribed medicine from Doctor but didn’t want to keep taking it every day. Wasn’t still enough but more by 100mls a day.
I made them and the ingredients amount didn’t work for me the cookies turned out bitter so am sure it was the baking soda unless the brewer yeast is bitter. Not sure but I am sure I put the 1/2 teaspoon only.
I’ve made these twice now. Super yummy but I keep having a problem I’m not sure how to fix! The first time I made them EXACTLY as written. They were much puffier and didn’t spread so it looked like they had too much flour. The second time I made them with all butter instead of coconut oil since I didn’t like the flavor and a half a cup less flour. They tasted much better without the coconut oil but they still didn’t spread and we’re super fluffy. Any tips?
Hi. Can I use Brewers Yeast tablets instead of powder? How much would i need to put? Thanks
These were very easy and SO delicious!! I was worried they would be dry, because of some comments, so I added a few tablespoons of applesauce while mixing the wet ingredients, and they turned out perfect! Not dry at all. I also took them out of the oven RIGHT when they set, about 10-11 minutes, and let them sit on the pan to harden a tiny bit more before transferring to cooling rack. Hoping these help my supply and, at the very least, they taste great and make for guilt-free treats because I’m eating them to help my baby ;)
Pingback: 8 Products to Help Your Breastfeeding Journey - Whisper and Muse
Mine came out dry. I followed the recipe but for the coconut oil I used the liquid coconut oil. Would that have made a difference?
Anyone know the estimated calories per cookie? Trying to log my daily caloric intake.
Pingback: ¿Poca producción de leche materna? 5 recetas de galletas para aumentar la producción de leche materna - REINO BEBES
YUMMY!!! I followed the recipe exactly, and made sure to take them out before they got over baked which was 11 minutes baking time in my oven. They turned out so delicious!! I agree that using all organic ingredients makes a difference. Love the hint of coconut from the oil, such good flavor. This quantity gave me 34 cookies, so I was able to bake 4 ( to taste of course!) and froze 30 for when baby arrives! Thank you for a delicious recipe!!!
I made these exactly as written the first time and they were so dry they fell apart. Still delicious- just crumbled into granola, essentially.
This time, I added a cup of natural peanut butter and upped the yeast to 7 TBSP. I also used 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup molasses and no white sugar. I added the chocolate chips too.
With these changes, the recipe made 36 cookies and they are phenomenal and held together well.
I have been eating 2-3 a day (that’s a decent amount of calories- just keep that in mind) and my supply has increased at least 3 ounces on each side. I’m going to keep them around 👍🏼
Incredible! From 2.5 oz a session to 4.5oz over night. AMAZING! I can not THANK YOU enough for this recipe. I have bought every existing lactation boosting food item and NOTHING worked for me. These cookies deserve a price LOL! Oh, and they’re so delicious. Thank You!
Pingback: 10 Foods to Increase Milk Supply - Whisper and Muse
Pingback: Lactation Cookies Recipes | Little and Mama
These are absolutely delicious! I made the recipe exactly as described (including all the organic and unbleached, etc) except I only had small eggs on hand so I used two full eggs rather than one and a yolk. I would describe these at thick, but not dry, closer to a granola or breakfast bar. They are chewy and crispy, perfectly sweet and not bitter at all (the depth from using dark chocolate makes the small amount of bitterness there feel intentional). I made half the recipe as described and the other half I added 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter. Both my husband and I like it better without the peanut butter; it overpowers the flavors and makes them more dense and crumbly. I chilled the dough a little before rolling into balls (I used my hands, not a scoop). I got 64 cookies with this recipe, and cooked them for 12 minutes. I only just made them, so I can’t say whether or not they work to increase milk, but even if they don’t I will definitely be making them again lol!
Great recipe!! It does make dough for way more than 22 cookies but that’s just a bonus. Instead of scooping all that I made bars by lightly pressing the dough into a sheet pan and just cooking a little longer. They came out about an inch thick and sooo yummy
Oh my made these and they’re the best. Soft and delicious. Not sure how others said they were dry or bitter. Followed the recipe but used canola oil in place of coconut oil and added coconut flakes too!
Oh and substituted half of the white sugar for brown