So I recently put a post up on my facebook page about some lactation cookies I had made. I ended up getting more emails and private messages than I knew what to do with. So I decided to get this recipe up fast so that everyone would be able to make them!
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Lactation Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c flour
- 1 1/2 c oats can be quick oats
- 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 2 tsp. Brewers yeast
- 1 1/2 c sugar
- 3/4 c shortening
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. cocoa
- 1/2 tsp. all spice
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 10 oz bag Dairy Free mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 (I baked at 325 in convection oven)
- In medium bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, all spice and cocoa.
- In stand mixer on medium speed, add shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add in eggs one at a time. Mix on medium high for 1-2 minutes to ensure well combined.
- Turn mixer to lowest setting in slowly add in flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
- Remove bowl from mixer and add in oats, mini chocolate chips, yeast and flaxseed. Mix by hand.
- These cookies work best when on silpat or parchment paper on your baking sheet. I made each cookie roughly a tablespoon and placed about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes and then cool on cooling rack. Keep a close eye on these cookies and remove when edges are just barely browned. The center may appear slightly "wet" and that is ok. Cookie will continue to bake after it is removed from oven.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
What is a lactation cookie exactly? It a cookie that has a few key ingredients that promote lactation, or increase a nursing mom’s milk supply.
For instance, in this cookie I have included oats. Researchers have long since known that oatmeal has properties in it that help to lower cholesterol and maintain a healthy blood pressure. Oats also provide plenty of iron as well as an abundance of healthy vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. New moms definitely need all that!
These delicious cookies also contain Brewers yeast, ground flaxseed and dairy free mini chocolate chips. The yeast and flaxseed are classic components to a Lactation cookie, but I wanted to take it one step further. I decided to use all shortening instead of butter and the dairy free chocolate in my recipe to ensure it was dairy free.
I know when I was nursing Eddie I experimented with a dairy free diet in the hopes it would help with his colic. To have been able to enjoy a scrumptious chocolate chip cookie during that time would have been such a treat!
These cookies do contain cinnamon and all spice and you may certainly omit them if you have a sensitivity.
In the research I did, it wasn’t recommended to use a cinnamon supplement while breastfeeding or consume more than 1 tsp per day. (In very small doses cinnamon can actually be beneficial.)
These cookies have a crispy crunchy exterior and a chewy center. I loved the juxtaposition!
Here is the nitty gritty. New moms need all the blessings they can get. To be able to make cookies for a nursing mom that not only help her but taste good? AND it’s recommended to eat about 4 a day.
I can’t think of a better prescription!
***These cookies are delicious and can be eaten by anyone.
Hi! I wanted to make these for a friend of mine. I was wondering if I could use Spelt Flour or whole wheat flour? Also would the ratios be the same? I think I may consider using coconut oil instead of shortening. Thank you!
Hi Nicole! I have not made the recipe with those options, so I am not sure of your substitutions. However, I love the addition of coconut oil anywhere, and think it would be a fantastic substitution here! 🙂
I have tried many lactation cookie recipes and this is the best I’ve found yet! These are awesome!
–Thank you Amanda!!!
YAY!!!
Has anyone tried using applesauce to replace the shortening?
I was trying to read through the comments, but well.. they started getting all crazy with the whole lactation thing!
Last night I made these cookies and they are not only delicious, but I noticed a difference in my supply within hours. Thank you so much for posting this! I have to have knee surgery on Thursday, so I have been looking for ways to produce a little extra milk for the time I’m in surgery and recovery. Thanks again <3 🙂
Thats FANTASTIC Mandy!!! best of luck for your surgery and recovery next Thursday!
I just made these last night. Well they didn’t taste bad but I was like, “I don’t know what all those folks were talking about cause these aren’t yummy!” Lol just realized I used 2 tablespoons instead of teaspoons brewers yeast! Oh my!!! Well they don’t taste bad right now. Can’t wait to see how yummy they really are!! Anyhow, they really work! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
I wish I could rid the world of shortening, and all the vegetable oils that provide us with Margarine! Garbage. Why doesn’t it occur to anyone that coconut oil and applesauce make wholesome and amazing alternatives? I would like to make these, I’ll use butter and possibly add raisins. Raisins are a fantastic source of iron! Every single recipe I come across has this one astronomical flaw, butter substitutes.
That is certainly a powerful opinion aimee! I do like coconut oil (just had it in my eggs this morning!) and apple sauce. Thanks for offering up an option.
Sorry if this was mentioned at some point, I didn’t read all the comments. I started a dairy and now soy free diet this week to try to help my little guys belly. I wasn’t sure what to use instead of the shortening. I just found earth balance soy and dairy free buttery spread. I fretted over using it, as I’m not much of a baker and didn’t know if it would work. Time is so precious right now and I didn’t want to waste that or the money on cookies that would be a flop! (I have to admit my hormones are out of control too. If they didn’t work I’d probably cry!) Oh my! Success!! These were AMAZING! Four a day! Ooookay if you insist! Thank you so much for posting. Now if I can keep my husband out of them. (Also FYI for folks. I got Enjoy Life dairy nut and soy free chocolate chips at Earth Fare and found the Brewer’s Yeast in the medicine section there too. I think everything else I found at a regular grocery store.)
So glad Charlotte!
If you want these to be dairy free and still healthy you could switch out the shortening for coconut oil. Shortening I’d made up entirely of partially hydrogenated oils, which are one of the worst things you can put in your body! Also, there is always Kerry gold butter, which is a grass-fed butter so it is loaded with B vitamins abs vitamin k!
Could also use palm shortening as a healthier alternative too.
These are delicious and worked great. My friend brought some to me when I had my baby and I just made another batch! And 4 cookies a day? Shucks. Feeds my sugar addiction, but not so good for when you are trying to lose weight!
Hi. Is it ok to use butter instead of shortening and not put in the Brewers Yeast? Thank you.
Yes!
The brewers yeast is one of the ingredients that boost your milk supply