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!
1,879 Comments on “Lactation Cookies.”
I’ve been making these since I started breastfeeding and they are the BEST! My favorite cookies that make me feel less guilty haha! I replaced the eggs with 1/4 cup applesauce since we have an egg allergy in our family and they turned out fine!  I also cut the sugar a bit. Thanks so much for the recipe!!!!Â
These are great! :) Do you happen to know the nutritional info for 1 cookie? Â Thanks!Â
Looking for nutritional value as well :)
Agreed, it would be nice to see it.
You can enter the ingredients in the Myfitnespal app and get the nutritional value
Just made these! They’re better than chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. I needed some help on my lactation journey, hoping this will help. Thank you!
Hi what about swapping the flour with almond meal?Â
These cookies are amazing! A little too amazing actually since me and my boyfriend both want to snack on them all day hahaha. Do you think the recipe would work without the brewers yeast and flax? (aka a not lactation version so we save those ingredients for the cookies for my milk). Thanks!
I just made these. They are delicious but they are quite hard. It did take a while for them to brown so I was wondering if I overlooked them? What should be the texture?Â
I felt mine at  15 min and they barely held together. I took them out anyways and I guess they kept baking as they were cooling bc 10 min later they held their shape, the bottom was minimally brown and it was just cooked through the middle. Cookies came out perfect and soft. I kept my second batch in there a little longer (20 min) till they looked golden brown for comparison and I thought they were a little too hard and dry.Â
Thanks for your comment. I made a new batch and only cooked them for 13 min and let them rest and they turned out perfectly! Definitely do not cook longer than you think! It will be soft but harden as it cools
I used a 1.5 inch cookie scoop (recipe says 1 inch rounds)  and it made around 70 cookies, not 20-22 like the recipe estimates. They came out to the size size of chips ahoy cookies. Are they supposed to be palm sized? Maybe the diameter description should be updated? I also had issues getting them to brown on the bottom, so I increased temp to 375 and then they browned fast but didn’t spread out. I came out with 4 trays of different textured cookies, ranging from crunchy to chewy so I got some yummy variety! Overall they are all great, maybe it’s just a me/my oven problem! I read some reviews that it was crumbly/dry so I used 2.5 cups of oats instead of 3, but otherwise no changes made to the recipe. I made them for my friend with a newborn, so don’t know yet if they help her lactation but as a non lactating person I sure enjoyed them.Â
I absolutely LOVE these cookies! They’re so delicious and the taste will always remind me of the early baby days! I do two modifications though: I use two whole eggs rather than separating, and I also use maple syrup instead of sugar (in the same quantity). You end up getting a slightly moister and softer cookie, and I feel better about eating them since I could easily eat a dozen a day! Otherwise fantastic recipe! :)
Tried everything to increase my supply, now about to give these cookies a go.
Hopefully it works, though I keep eating the raw cookie dough yum!Â
Great recipeÂ
Did they work for you?
I am wondering same thing since I’m starting them today
These are great! I followed the recipe exactly the first time, and they were tasty but since I prefer a softer cookie I made some modifications the last couple times I’ve made these—use 2 full eggs, half regular sugar half brown sugar, and I add a bit of nut butter (almond, peanut) to get more of a traditional cookie dough consistency. I roll them into balls and freeze and bake a few at a time straight from the freezer!
I’ve made these so many times over the last 5 years. I just wanted to add a new thing I tried yesterday that worked really well–I subbed almond butter for the coconut oil! I also use 2 whole eggs, and I haven’t had any problem with crumbling.
These are amazing! I had to make some adjustments because of what I had on hand, but they still turned out sooooo well! Now to keep the hubby from eating them…
Made these and they turned out great, probably will decrease the amount of sugar next time. Is there a recommended amount of cookies you should consume per day?
Can you make these gluten free ?
Replace the floor with ground oat. It’s more fir lactation anyway
How many cookies could/should you eat each day?Â
I’m about to make these for the first time.Â
They taste so good! I made a batch a week before my EDD and I made another batch of dough and freezed them to prepare for post partum days.Â
These are very good! And work!
I’ve made them twice now.  I don’t care for the taste of brewers yeast so when I made them the second time I did 1 teaspoon cinnamon and it’s helped mask the taste of the yeast a bit better.  Overall I really enjoy them!
Love these cookies! I’ve been eating one a day while breastfeeding l. I tried other lactation cookie recipes but I am back to this one as the best!
Sounds awesome! I’m definitely going to try them. Do you think I can swap the butter for margarine?Â
I just made them with margarine and they turned out good :)Â
Hello! I am planning to make these ahead of my due date. How long can the dough or cookies be frozen for?
These came out great! My mother-in-law made them vegan for me today.Â
We replaced the the coconut oil with vegan butter and instead of an egg I took someone’s comment/recommendation from the reviews and added homemade 1/4 cup of applesauce.Â
I wish I saw the above recommendation to add more brewers yeast and less sugar, oh well—for next time! I’m h and I used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar.Â
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about lactation cookies, so I didn’t expect these to be so freaking good. It’s hard not to eat them all .. highly reccomendÂ
Adore these cookies!! Has anyone converted this recipe for a Thermomix?Â
These cookies helped my milk supply! The batter was dry so I threw in some oat milk to help combine it all.Baking for 13 minutes left the cookies so moist and chewy. I’ll be making these for the remainder of my breast feeding journey!
How many per day were you having to up your supply?Â
Hello hello!!
Excited to make these, I’m wondering what’s the amount recommended to start possibly seeing effects on the production of milk!?
Love these cookies. Definitely saw an increase in milk supply.Â
I made a few modifications – I upped the brewers yeast to 8 tbsp. I added fenugreek powder, lowered the sugar to 3/4 cup to make it slightly healthier and did a combo of wheat and AP flour.Â
Hello, how many did you eat per day?
I made them really small – so had 3-4
Hey there- I live in Denver (high altitude?) and my cookies weere super crumbly after I baked them. Any advice?
Has anyone substituted GF flour?
I did, I substituted 1-1 bobs red mill, added a little milk for moisture, and a cup of peanut butter and they turned out perfect
Thanks, Lucie.
Too good to be beneficial!! ;)
Ok so my brain totally read this title as ‘Location Cookies’. I’m reading through the post thinking, “What in the world is she talking about?!”. Can you tell someone does not have kids? Hahaha. I can’t!
I just made a batch for my DIL. Followed exactly except I used half brown/white sugar, added 2TBSP peanut butter, and didn’t use anything organic. Scooped into balls (got 49) and froze on a tray. Took one out, and baked in my air fryer at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Let cool 5, and then ate it. OMG, it was delicious!! Even if they don’t help her milk come in, who doesn’t love a warm oatmeal chocolate chip in less than 15 minutes? She deserves snacks!!
I first made these for myself in 2016 and they have been my go-to food item for new moms ever since. I make exactly as written but add the optional shredded coconut as well as sweetened dried cherries. The best!Â
These came out amazing, I’m excited to see if my milk supply does increase, i am trying to build up my stash of milk for when I go back to work.
I just made these. Told my son’s wife we will all be lactating! These are delicious. I did not have any chocolate chips, so chopped up dried cranberries, roasted almonds and a little dark chocolate. Next time I will probably reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup. Outstanding recipe! Thank you so very much!
Great cookies  – haven’t eaten them consistently enough to see a difference though. Will try and report back!
I used 2 full eggs, half cup white and half cup brown sugars instead of cane sugar. I used a full cup of butter and added 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast as well as a bit more coconut oil. Cooked for 13 mins and removed them from stove, not hard not soft – perfect!
I don’t have an electric mixer. What should I do?
I am not sure if I ever left a review on here but after six years using this recipe and referring others to it, thank you so much for sharing. It definitely did what it said it would. Making a batch today.
Has anybody had any trouble with eating these cookies and potentially giving their baby a ton of gas? My seven week old has been having troubles, and I’ve been eating these since he was born. Just curious of these ingredients are particularly troublesome for gassy babies.
Every baby is different. Some people have reported that brewers yeast and even sugar could cause gas in breastfed babies. Maybe skip the cookies for a few days and see if your baby feels better. My baby had some trouble when I ate peanuts or peanutbutter, garlic or onions or if I ate or drank too many dairy products. Luckily after 3 months these problems cleared up. I am still breastfeeding at 6 months and can eat anything now.
Not sure about my baby yet BUT I ended up really really gassy :( …. not painful but diffently uncomfortable..
I am actually in my living room now and not in bed so my spouse doesn’t have to put up with me lol.
I did 1/2 cup less of flour and split the sugar content—1/2c of brown sugar and 1c sugar. But Cookies turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!!
What is the serving size?Â
Hi Jessica. Your lactation cookie recipe says it makes 22-24 cookies
Looks like there’s enough batter for about 6 dozen!
Also, your cookies look pretty thick,
height-wise. Mine are pretty flat
Wondering why?
ThanksÂ
Absolutely FANTASTIC and SOOOOO good. Thank you!
These are great! I changed the recipe a little to 2 full eggs and baked them for 12 minutes. Also added some Chocolate chips on top for pretty appearance. They’re great!
Not sure if brewer’s yeast is a good idea for the one of us who are lactating as it contains alcohol. And it is a myth that alcohol completely bakes off. I will try with regular yeast bc they are so good and I think they did help boost my milk supply!Â
I love the cookies but they are very hard and dry. I would like to find a way to make them moist and sft.
You must of overbaked them or measured your ingredients wrong. I baked mine for about 12-13 minutes and they came out and stayed soft and chewy.Â
How many calories are these cookies? They do taste delicious. Thanks!!
Just made these following the insructions exactly. I did add the 2 T almond butter. With a 1 inch scoop I made about 64 cookies, about the size of an oreo. I baked for 10 mintues. I made them for my daughter, who just had a baby, but I had to taste them. They are very tasty. Hope they help her with lacation.
Odd question, I know, but could I take the yeast out? Would I need to substitute it with more flour or something?
These are absolutely delicious! And I’ve noticed an increase after a few hours of eating 2, and pumping 4-5 hours later. For those wondering, I used quick cook steel cut oats and they worked out perfectly. I also only had 1.5cups of oats and added more flour to make up for the dry amount. I also added coconut flakes and these cake out to be so so delicious.Â
These taste amazing, I’ve only just baked them so yet to see how my milk supply goes.Â