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!
1,876 Comments on “Lactation Cookies.”
I just made these!! OMG!!! They are amazing! I didn’t have brewers yeast so I subbed fliechman’s active dry yeast. I also added two full scoops of vegan vanilla protein powder!! So good! How many should you have a day to increase supply? I may have to make more cause I’ve had four already! Lol
Hey just wanted to let you know. The brewers yeast is what increases supply. I wouldn’t be substituting it. Xx
What’s the dough supposed to be like?
+100 You are doing amazing work! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes. I started on just Lactation Cookies and noticed minimal improvement in milk supply. So I started Domperidone (Motilium) 3x10mg three times a day. (I’ve got it online to save $, if you’re curious just search on Google for this keyword “Make24milk” 👍 to find the reliable source) I got great results. Now I take Domperidone (Motilium) and your tasty Lactation cookies. This is a great combination. Love your recipes ❤️!
How much dry yeast did you use as a substitute?
I used almond flour because that’s all I had. Will it mess up the texture? I’m not a Baker.
Only a little. I have found lactation cookies to be very forgiving.
These are amazing!!!!!! I added half cup of shredded coconut. This was the first recipe I tried and my search is over, so delicious and easy!
I still used the eggs but substituted vegan butter for regular butter because the babe can’t have dairy. These still turned out amazing and I don’t think someone would know there isn’t real butter in them!
I made these cookies following the complete recipe and also adding shredded almonds and dried apricots. It is absolutely delicious. I eat about 4 a day and made extra for my family of 12, they all loved it. They ate their cookies in one day lol I spread mine out over a week. After about 3 days I have noticed a spike in my milk supply.
I made these but I substituted it with 1 for 1 gluten free flour and while they’re delicious they fall apart really bad. Like there wasn’t enough liquid to bind it 🥺
I’m allergic to coconut. Will it ruin the recipe by leaving it out?
Delicious cookies! Made them according to your recipe, except added a tbsp of brewers yeast and reduced the sugar to 1 cup! Very nice and most important, milk production seems increased!
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Will it be ok to use non organic and still see result in increase supply and did anyonr else have receipes to share first timer with trying to produce more milk baby came at 28wks and so all the milk i can get for him is best they can use donor milk but i have his milk and wanna give him all i can and i also wanna save the donor milk for moms that arent avle to produce or not there wit baby i always think of the what if and feel liek the donor should be for those cases i drive 2.5hrs back and forth to hospital cause i live so far away and its too hard to stay there during week as ive got 4kids 4yrs old and younger lol as n 4 3 2 1yr olds lol and new baby so its challenge i go when daddy gets off and soend most of the nigjt and on weekends wit him but i need to produce more so ima give these a try they look great just dont wanna mess up using reg ingredients instead of organic
Yes she said you can use non organic
Where can I find the nutritional information for these cookies? These are so tasty!
You can just plug in your recipe to MyFitnessPal to get the macros per cookie
These are the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! Or even had. I use two eggs, two sticks butter, 3/4 cup white and brown sugar, 12oz of chocolate chips, and ground flax/chia seed blend. I give them to people and they love them! Thanks for a flawless recipe! My baby is 6 months old, milk production is still good but can always use a boost.
With a flaxseed allergy, do you recommend any substitution or could I just leave it out entirely? Thanks! They look so good!!
Should these cookies be refrigerated?
They work. They’re delicious and they work. My baby is 2.5 weeks old and from day 1 a very hungry little one. I’ve had to supplement which was upsetting so I’m determined to bring up my supply to eventually be able to satisfy her. They work. In less than 24 hrs I noticed a change in the amount I pump and how quickly it comes. I followed the recipe almost exactly but also added a tbsp of chia seeds and 3 tbsps wheat germ.
Yummmmm!!! I don’t know if they work yet, but they taste amazing! I changed a very little bit: I used 4 tbsp of cocotropic superfood mix instead of chocolate chips and I added 2 tbsp of livefit superfood blend. So tasty and so healthy! Yay!
I have not given them time to work yet but I wanted to post about how AMAZING these cookies taste! I added quite a few extra chocolate chips (because why not!!!!) And I took a few minutes off the baking time to keep them chewy. I’m not a fan of crunchy cookies so making them softer made them more appealing for me. Also, if anyone doesn’t want them getting to hard, try the old “slice of bread” in the container with the cookies and it keeps them moist. I will be making these all the time now!!
Just made these. Yum! I ate four just now, trying to taste any weirdness, but they were good. I had no eggs, so I ground two tablespoons of chia seeds and let them sit in 8 tablespoons of water for twenty minutes. I added an extra teaspoon of vanilla, and substituted a little less than an eighth of a cup of the flour for cricket powder. Why not? Added a splash of cold coffee. Turned out fabulous. Freezing half of the dough now.
My cookies turned out bitter. Any idea what could have gone wrong? Thanks.
Maybe it’s the brand of brewers yeast! It can have a really bitter taste.
My cookies are super hard…. I followed the recipe to a T. Am i missing something here?
maybe you need to adjust the time.
Great recipe! I pumped up the jam quite a bit, adding 3/4 c. Unsweetened Flaked coconut
3/4 c. Finely chopped pecans
2 Tbsp black sesame (good for production)
2 Tbsp chia seeds
I also used pastry flour instead of regular (much finer texture) and used 1 cup regular sized chips + 1/2 c mini chips. They came out so good it was hard to keep my husband and toddler away.
Concerned I had added so many extras I’d “diluted” the yeast and flax, I went and made a second batch. For the second batch I doubled the brewers yeast and flax. This made the dough more crumbly, but still very good! Would just add an extra Tbsp or two coconut oil
How many do you eat per day? How long did it take before you noticed an increase in supply? I know it’s been said they don’t work for everyone, but for the ones that it did work for, did you notice a significant increase right away? The cookies are delicious btw!
Hi! Sorry for the late response, I just came back to my comment to find my notes to make them again haha
I eat about two a day when I need a boost, with a big ole glass of whole milk. They definitely helped me.
These seriously work and are delicious!!! You can’t have just one I feel like I’m going to gain weight .. but hey as long as my baby is getting more milk I no longer have to supplement with formula !
I have made several batches of these since my baby was born 5 months ago! They are such a treat and I love them. I use 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 cup shredded coconut. I don’t notice the reduction in sugar (and neither does my family!). I do add extra brewers yeast and flaxseed and I haven’t noticed a difference in texture. Thank you for this recipe. These cookies are the MVP in our house!
Is dough is supposed to be flaky ? My first time making these, was just trying to make sure.
No it should be more dry but not flaky.
Just dropping by to say how much i love these cookies. I have no clue if they actually increase my supply, but man are they the yummiest cookies ever. And i feel like you can eat them guilt free because, lactation! ;)
Can you freeze the baked cookies rather than freezing the dough?
Yes. Then when you’re ready to eat you can microwave for 10-15 seconds wrapped in a paper towel (they’ll get all warm and gooey again-yum!) Or if you’re good at thinking ahead you can take them out to thaw a couple hours before you want to eat them.
I own a bakery and we are trying out different recipes for boobie cookies. This recipe does not work out well. The cookie is very dry and does not spread when baked.. Needs some adjusting…and to the girl up top who is using regular yeast instead of brewers yeast…(not the same thing!)
I made these all the time when I was nursing my daughter. I decreased the sugar by half and subbed in some agave nectar. I forget how much exactly. Slightly less than a 1 for 1 sub. I found this helped keep the cookies from being so dry. My son is 3 weeks old so I’ve been meaning to make a couple batches again. I’ll update if I remember exactly what I did before.
Gotta love how this recipe has worked out for everyone else except the dude who owns a bakery. I barely bake; just measured out everything, followed the instructions, and had damn near perfect results. Besides the fact you’re just trying to shamelessly profit of a free recipe you’re ripping off the interwebz… I must ask, bro, do you even lift?
It has not worked out for everyone…yes I do lift but can’t lift as big of an ego as you have. Just because it’s worked out does not mean its good! If you have not noticed everyone ripping off recipes to profit does so by putting the time and energy into the work it does not matter where the recipe came from, I profit off the work that went into it for those that want to troll on the net all day and not bake Ms. McBakerson. your obviously doing the same. All recipes come from somewhere, you think everyone sits around throwing a bunch of crap ingredients together hoping it’ll work out. Nope to be profitable i hit the net and find a place to start…which is why I am profiting off a free recipe on the interwebz. Would you mind pointing me to the place where you can purchase recipes?
Taste great , I did add the slice almonds & coconut flakes . Waiting on the results from this master piece 🤞🏻
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I make a version of these cookies almost every week to keep my supply up. Thank you for a great recipe!!
Baked these for my wife! Absolutely fantastic recipe that is easy and straight forward to make and bake. Oats, brewer’s yeast, and flaxseed are all the “active ingredients” you’ll find in commercial lactation cookies. One thing I haven’t seen people mention is the crazy amount of money you’ll save baking these. 20 oz worth of commercial lactation cookies will run you about $22. This recipe should yield roughly $60.00 worth of lactation cookies. Picking up premium, organic ingredients (given, I had a few of them listed), only cost me roughly $25. Not to mention, the next time I make a batch, running to the store will be even cheaper since I have the more odd ingredients like coconut oil, vanilla extract, flaxseed, and brewer’s yeast.
Only two tips I’d recommend for this recipe:
1) If it seems like there are pockets of oats and flour still left over after mixing all the dry and wet ingredients together, a splash of water (meaning, < 1 oz) from your hands will be just enough moister to soak that stuff up.
2) Parchment paper on your cookie sheet will make life super easy and you won't have to deal with any sort of lubrication for your baking sheet.
Made a batch of these today and baked a few / froze the rest of the dough (I’m two weeks from my due date). LOVED them! Can’t speak to whether they increase milk supply, but they are tasty. For reference, I used Solgar brand Brewer’s yeast and couldn’t detect a bitter beer taste at all (I included 6 tbs in the recipe). If they do increase my milk supply, I will definitely make more after I start breastfeeding!
I made a batch of these cookies today for my daughter who gave birth to a beautiful boy three weeks ago. I will drop them in on my next visit in two days, that is if there are any left!! Will have to try not to eat them all myself beforehand 😂. What delicious cookies they are and also fun to make. I did add a few drops of water to the mix at the end of the process as some of the dry ingredients had not quite mixed through. The quantity I achieved was 21 and that was despite my first six cookies being quite large – I ended up just using half a scoop for the remainder and they were still quite substantial. Will definitely continue to use this recipe. I have no doubt my daughter will love them once she gets her hands on them 🤗.
Made a batch of these today exactly as recipe states. Only issue I had was “dough” was a bit too dry and when baked they didn’t spread like cookies. More like an oatmeal/granola type bon-bon. I think next time I might try all butter instead of the coconut oil.
Anyone else have this experience?
I make these for my 2 daughters. Their favorite is dark chocolate and peanut butter chips. But I add all kinds of dry fruit, different chips and different nuts. I also noticed when I don’t mix at least 5 min or longer they come out dryer
Omg sooo yum! Thanks for sharing. I hope it will increase my milk supply but if it doesn’t they are still so tasty and I don’t feel guilty eating them! Followed recipe just left out cinnamon out.. xx
Has anyone tried these with all coconut oil, instead of butter?
I used SmartBalance instead of butter plus the coconut oil – turned out fabulous!!!
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Love this recipe and they really worked for me. I modified the recipe a bit to make them gluten free and butter free because of allergies. In order for them not to be too dry with the gluten free flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1) I added 2 extra tablespoons of the Earth’s Balance I used (instead of butter) and 1 extra tablespoon of coconut oil. So delicious!!
These are delicious but I added in a bit of natural peanut butter because I’m a sucker for chocolate and peanut butter and they cameo it great! Can’t wait to make more.
I just made these cookies and they were delicious, not bitter at all , jusy make a small scope on the baking paper as they do get flat bigger fast , i got my first 6 VERY huge haha than managed to make them smaller , i followed the same exact recipe, yummy hope they increaSe my milk supply , i got 25 cookies does anyone know how many calories almost in each ?
Thank you
I made these today and they were excellent. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar, I melted the butter and coconut oil and just stirred everything together. I put them on parchment and flattened them. This makes a flat crunchy cookie, which I prefer. This is an excellent base recipe that would do well with omitting the chocolate and replacing it with raisins, nuts, dates, coconut…to vary your cookie from week to week. This recipe has made it into a plastic sleeve in my personal “3 ring binder of amazing cookery”
My dough was really crumbly and I added an extra T of butter. I even reduced the sugar to 1 cup. They didn’t spread at all when I baked them. They still taste good so I’ll eat them up but I want to know where I went wrong!
I followed this recipe to a T and they came out perfectly! Of course not the same texture as your average cookie but they were perfect in their own way and sooo yummy! I’ll probably decrease the sugar amount next time as suggested and add more brewer’s yeast. Can’t speak for their effectiveness as I just made them a couple hours ago but I’m hopeful there will be a difference. Are there any other products you guys have used that really work for you?
I have made LOTS of lactation recipes and this one is by far the ABSOLUTE best! I’ll be making it again for sure! Thank you so so much! I doubled the recipe baked half & froze half. I ended up just eating the cookie dough frozen for the other half and not baking it!
I actually preferred eating the cookie dough over the baked cookies. Do you have an idea of what I could substitute for the eggs or if I could maybe take them out just so I could eat the cookie dough? TIA!
My son is 6 months old and I make this recipe every two weeks. I definitely notice a difference in my supply when I take then versus when I don’t. I made the recipe as is the first time and as others have mentioned, they were a little dry. I prefer my cookies a bit chewier so I added 2 eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, decrease the sugar by 1/2 c and did 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 cane sugar and increase the brewer’s yeast to 8 tbsp. My husband and son LOVE these and I have to make two batches. One for them and one for me. I typically yield 6 dozen from this recipe by using a standard cookie dough scoop.
I was wondering if I could use dates instead of sugar ?
These cookies taste SOOOOO good!!! My husband was eating them about as fast as I was, I’m needing to make another batch today because we are out!
I did add less sugar and 1 extra tbsp of brewers yeast.
Can you make these dairy free? Either using all coconut oil or dairy free butter (miyoko’s)? If so, what’s would the recommended amount be?
The cookies are super tasty!! I’m not a fan of crunchy cookies tho and to make them softer I used 1 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar. I made sure to use dark chocolate chips because they did get a little sweeter. Can probably use 1 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar with similar results- maybe not quite as soft.
Could you keep the recipe the same but put it in a 9×13 to make cookie bars instead?
Just made some, it’s amazing! I added some organic shredded coconut. Hope it really help to produce milk supply too!
Delicious recipe! I used 1 cup of cocoa nibs instead of the chocolate chips, and it was just the right amount of sweet (I had gestational diabetes, so I’m still trying to be somewhat mindful of my sugar intake).
these cookies are great. I added 1/4 glass of water to make them look dough dry. I reduced the amount of butter to half. brewer’s yeast increased 1 tbs. my husband and son loved it. thanks for the recipe.
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