“Are they made with breast-milk?” That’s usually the first question I hear when I mention “lactation cookies.” No…..no, they’re not, it’s to help you make more milk!
I hadn’t even heard of lactation cookies until I had my son Emmett and decided to try them out for myself. Turns out the combination of carbs, cookie, and oats were satisfying every craving my milk producing body was having! Not only do these cookies taste AMAZING, they actually work! My milk supply quickly increased after eating some of these.
What makes this recipe special? Well, these cookies are soft, satisfying, and not too sweet. In my opinion they are perfect! The combination of oats, brewers yeast, and flax seed is what causes your milk production to increase.
I’ve made these cookies so many times for myself, and friends who have had babies recently. They ask me for the recipe, but I actually combined a few different ones, so part of the objective in writing this post is that I will actually have a recipe to pass along!
If you are a breastfeeding mama, or you know one, this is one to make!
What you need: Old fashioned oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vegetable shortening, butter, salt, ground cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, light brown sugar, raisins, flax seed meal, and brewers yeast.
Start with a small bowl with 1/4 cup of water in it.
Add in 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal.
Stir the flax seed meal and water and let it sit while you start putting together other ingredients.
The mixture will thicken up as it sits.
While your flax seed and water mixture is sitting to the side, (about 5 minutes) Take a large bowl and add 1 stick of softened butter and 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening.
Mix together.
Add in 3/4 of a cup of light brown sugar and mix well.
Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time.
Now it’s time to add in your flax seed meal mixture. Beat it in.
Add in 2 teaspoons of vanilla and beat until completely combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Start with 2 cups of flour and add in 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Add in 3 tablespoons of brewers yeast. (Note: I found brewers yeast in the health food section of my grocery store)
Mix all of the dry ingredients together and add in 2 3/4 of oats.
Add in 1 cup of raisins. I usually use golden raisins, but any raisins will do! Mix thoroughly.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together to form the cookie dough.
To make consistent cookies, I use 1/4 measuring cup to measure out cookies. Once you form a ball, flatten down the cookie a bit to shape it.
Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.
And there you have it! The perfect oatmeal raisin lactation cookies!
Oatmeal Raisin Lactation Cookies
A soft chewy oatmeal raisin cookie that helps increase milk for breastfeeding mamas!
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons brewers yeast
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix 1/4 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and vegetable shortening together.
- Add in brown sugar, eggs, flax seed mixture, and vanilla. Mix.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,and brewers yeast.
- Add in oats and raisins. Mix well.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to divide cookie dough. Shape dough on cookie sheet, spacing cookies 1-2 inches apart.
- Bake each batch of cookies for 11 minutes.
Please feel free to pin and share!
The Cheerful Space 
I made these for my wife but I couldn’t find brewer’s yeast. I substituted regular yeast and Marmite which is like Vegemite. I would definitely say that they taste Hardy. Not bad, could have been sweeter.
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Hi Charles, Thanks for trying the recipe out! I’m not sure about the regular yeast and marmite, sounds like interesting substitutes. I know that the combination of brewers yeast, oats, and flax seed are key to milk production. Did your cookies help your wife with her milk supply?
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Im in the middle of maken these as im typing this and i was wondering how many and how offten should the nursing mom eat of these
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Hi Jerrika! I don’t know if there is a set number. I would eat them as a snack, or 30 minutes before nursing to boost your milk supply! I hope that helps. Good luck!
Christina
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Can you freeze?? My daughter just had a baby but lives about 5 hours away. If I bake a huge batch can she freeze and thaw and eat??
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Hi Cathy! I’m not sure about freezing baked cookies. You can definitely freeze the dough and she can pop them in the oven when she wants some! I would prepare the dough in premade individual cookie sizes and freeze them that way. Make sure they are sealed well in a freezer Ziploc bag! Good luck!
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Hello! Love this recipe BTW. I have made it twice now. Quick question, could chocolate chips or peanut butter chips be substituted for the raisins?
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Hi Michelle! Absolutely!!! I’m sure that would taste amazing! I’m so glad you love the recipe!
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i have whole raw flaxseed, would that do as a substitute for flaxseed meal?
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Hi Ethel, that should work, if you have a coffee grinder, try grinding them up before putting them in the mix! Good luck!
- Christina
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