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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1,879 Comments on “Lactation Cookies.”
Delicious! I did about 1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup oat flour, didn’t change anything else. They came out amazing. I also used a 1.5T scoop and the cookies were plenty big.
So true! You are doing amazing work! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes. I think the combination of this Lactation cookies and Domperidone had the best effect. Until I started the domperidone my baby may well have fed on blood from a stone. We tried the skin-to-skin, the constant feeding, the teas, the massages, but basically my milk never came in in sufficient quantity. Just as I was about to quit, a friend suggested domperidone (So happy ❤️ I found “Make24milk” 😊 in Google and got Dom). I was able to stop the domperidone after a while and supply held more or less steady.
Taste good! Even my husband and my 3 year old daughter kept asking for more. I also noticed increase on my milk supply right away.
Has anyone tried this with stevia or monkfruit substitute?
I did! I actually used the Truvia brown sugar blend and they turned out great.
I made these for my neighbor who recently had a baby and she loves them! She had tried some store bought lactation cookies and didn’t enjoy the taste at all. She LOVED these ones!
These are great!!! I subbed the coconut oil for another 1/4 cup butter and did 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar !
These cookies were amazing!!
These were the minor adjustments I made to the ingredients:
o 3 cups rolled oats
o 1 ½ cups plain flour
o 7 tbs brewers yeast
o 3 tbs flaxseed meal
o ½ tsp baking powder
o ½ tsp baking soda
o ½ tsp ground cinnamon
o ¼ tsp salt
o 240g unsalted butter
o 70g coconut oil
o 1 cup brown sugar
o ½ cup caster sugar
o 2 XL eggs
o 2 tsp vanilla extract
o 200g Cadbury dark chocolate chips
They came out chewy, soft and delicious!!
These are seriously the lost delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten! I look forward to my milk supply going up :)
These are seriously the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten! I look forward to my milk supply going up :)
How long can these be frozen for?
These cookies are great! I make mine with all purpose gluten free flour (Bob’s Red Mill, usually), and they come out “normal.” Another thing I do slightly differently is only use 3/4 or just 1 cup of sugar. I’m sure the sugar is for the yeast, but I find the amount in this recipe to be a tad too much for me, and I don’t see any difference in consistency. My cookie sizes are small, so I get enough to last me two weeks (I store them in the freezer and have two to three a day). I also experiment with additions and so far like chocolate chip, raisins, a combo of the two, and white chocolate with craisens. I saw peanut butter morsels for my next batch. These are so great! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’ve made these several times for my daughter and her friends who have newborns and they keep asking me to make more! I followed some of the other reviewers’ suggestions and use 2 whole eggs, about 1/3 cup natural peanut butter, about 1/3-1/2 c chopped walnuts, 3/4 c brown sugar and 3/4 c granulated sugar and 1tsp of cinnamon. I think these minor adjustments make for a less crumbly cookie. My daughter keeps hers in the freezer and takes a few out each day. All new mama’s I know will be getting a batch of these!
This is the best lactation cookies recipe I’ve tried. They’re so yummy! I was wondering if anyone has worked out the nutritional information for them yet? Wanting to be able to put them into my calorie counter correctly. TIA
Has anyone used steel cut oats as an alternative? I don’t have rolled oats on hand
So I was moving too fast when I started making these and added the sugar to the other dry ingredients instead of adding it to the butter and eggs.. whoops.. I followed everything else exactly as stated in the recipe and though the dough came out just slightly drier than the dough in the video, the cookies still tasted fantastic. They didn’t spread/flatten much but they were amazing. Like I could not stop eating them. Can’t wait to see what they do for my supply! I’d honestly make them again if they didn’t help me produce more milk at all, lol
These cookies were amazing!!
For a healthier option I switched out cane sugar for coconut sugar, but continued to follow the same steps recipe called for.. my cookies turned out amazing and I don’t think I’d bother trying it with cane sugar in the future.
I forgot to add my rating ^_^
I look forward to making these cookies again
I just made these for my daughter with Nutritonal Yeast because I couldn’t find Brewer’s Yeast. Is there a significant difference?
yes, nutritional yeast does not have the benefits for milk supply! you definitely need brewer’s yeast.
Yum!! I had to go dairy free for my little guy so made these with vegan butter (country crock plant butter) and they turned out great!!
I have had to go dairy and soy free for my little guy and planned on making these with a butter substitute. Thank you for sharing your success!
I love these cookies, I add Whitaker’s dark chocolate, it’s a complete game changer, definitely my favourite lactation cookie.
These are so yummy, Last batch i made with half aprocit & date & coconut muesli & oats, still good & added different flavour . X
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These are the. best. cookies. ever! I’ve made them to have on hand for both of my pregnancies, and I think my husband ends up eating just as many as I do! After baking, I store the cookies in the freezer and eat them right out of the bag to keep them from drying out. They keep for at least a month!
Do you use softened butter?
Great homemade cookies. I love the store-bought boobie bikkies, but making these is much cheaper.
Could you please list the butter and coconut oil in grams rather than tablespoons? I’ve looked at s conversion online but get different answers. Does 12 tbsp = 240g or 170g?
Some say 20g per tbsp & others say 14.5g per tbsp – it’s a big difference to the recipe.
Hi Kate! I bake in grams regularly and always use 14.5g per tbsp of butter without any issues.
How much flaked coconut can you add ?
I added 1 and 1/2 cups.
Can you leave out the flax? Thanks!
Making these for my daughter. My first batch exactly as your recipe, find them very dry, to the point of mushing them to stay together? Is there an issue in adding a bit more fat or another egg
Can I use Brewer’s Yeast Debittered? Is it the same thing as Brewer’s yeast?
I’ve made these post-partum while nursing all 3 of my babies. Probably I’ve made double batches 8 times. I LOVE them. I use vegan butter and a little less sugar. These cookies are amazing.
Holy cow these are delicious!!! I made them exactly as written above and they turned out perfect! My only question is, how many of these should I be eating a day?
I’m lactose intolerant, do you have a substitute suggestion for the butter? More coconut oil? Vegan margarine?
These cookies are amazing! I’ve made them three times, and they turn out perfect every time! I love an excuse to eat cookies ☺️
Delicious 😋. I just used normal white flour and brown sugar as thats all I had in the cupboard and they still came out Delicious. Even my 3yr old loves them. Will be making more to give as gifts to some lovely friends who are about to have babies.
I can’t say if they increase milk as I already have an over supply. I was simply making them as a trial run.
These cookies are awesome. I have made them for my new-mom daughter several times and she swears by them. I made two changes: 7 tablespoons of the brewers yeast and 2 whole eggs. They are delicious!
Made this for the first time for my nursing friends and it turned out perfect! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I am excited to hear the effect from my friends.
Is beer yeast the same or a good sub for brewers yeast?
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m getting ready to make these with my daughter for her and her 3 week old 4 week premie. I can’t find brewers yeast but I have yeast for bread making. Can this be substituted and get similar benefits? Thank you. Eric
These cookies taste great! I added a teaspoon and a quarter of ground fenugreek and the bitterness is hidden by the other yummy ingredients. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Greetings fr Malaysia. Do u use active or inactive brewers yeast? Thanks.
Delicious and easy to make cookies. I substituted the egg for a flax egg and used nuttelex instead of butter to make it vegan and it turned out fine.
These are absolutely delicious. I can’t stop eating them.
Not sure if they have helped my milk just yet.
Milk supply was fine before I made these I just wanted to make sure I don’t run out.
These are absolutely delicious. I can’t stop eating them.
Not sure if they have helped my milk just yet.
Milk supply was fine before I made these I just wanted to make sure I don’t run out.
I used 10 dates as a substitute for sugar. Turned out great!
These are such good cookies! I love a sweet treat after dinner and this is the perfect cookie. Not only does it have benefits for breastfeeding but it also is the perfect sweet treat.
Great recipe! I added walnuts and it was delicious!
Hmm. My cookies didn’t spread very much from freezer to baking. Followed the recipe with only ingredient different was I used Coaches Whole Grain Cracked Oats as opposed to just oatmeal. Possible that these just soak up more liquid and I should have used 2 cups vs 3 cups? The cookies taste good, just came out more like pucks than classic flatter cookie.
This recipe is so versatile! I’ve made these cookies like 4 or 5 times now. The first time I made it as directed and the cookies turned out great but I always like to challenge myself to make things even healthier so I substituted the flour with whole wheat and almond flour and I subbed the sugar with brown sugar and subbed the chocolate chips with raisins and that is my favorite rendition of this recipe. I’ve also noticed an increase in my breast milk production as well!
These are sooooo gooooood!!! I’m addicted. I’ll cut the amount of sugar in my next batch and add chopped walnuts for crunch.
Stupid good cookies!!! My first batch the only things I changed was I used maple syrup instead of regular sugar because I didn’t have regular sugar…. Pluses of living in VT and always having maple syrup on hand! And then I also added white raisins to my first batch! This batch I did the maple syrup again but no raisins. The cookies are so freakin good!!! I am going to make some for the the mommas who are breast milk feeding in my life!
I have an allergy to flaxseed, but my sister sent me this recipe and I’d love to bake them in prep for my upcoming birth. Any suggestions on what to sub for the flax?