Were you lucky enough to have that one (maybe more) friend bring you weeks worth of meals right after your baby was born? I was. Thank goodness for my dear friend Chelsea and her overwhelming generosity in the days after my son was born.

She brought over sushi, a bunch of prepared meals and these lactation cookies. As she handed them to me, her 2 year old daughter took a big bite of one too, and with gobs of enthusiasm. While they’re called lactation cookies, everyone will enjoy them. EVERYONE. Bring these cookies to your new mama friends, make them to increase your own milk supply, or just bake them because you want a chewy, oat-y, chocolate chip cookie.

These cookies are so good that my husband made batch after batch in the months after P was born (he’s never baked in his life) and there were days I’m pretty sure we lived on them. My friend Jillian, who is due in 2 weeks, is making them in preparation. I made them for P’s second birthday (make sure your baking soda is not expired). This is my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

There are a couple of ingredients that make these cookies especially good for making mama’s milk:

• Oats* eaten on a regular basis have been known to increase milk supply. (source)
• Flax* meal is high in Omega-3 fats and helps in the creation of linoleic acid which helps create DHA, which is crucial for infant develpement. Flax seeds are also rich in protein, and fiber. (source 1,2)
• Brewer’s Yeast** which is high in B vitamins and is shown to to increase nutritional value of breast milk. (source 1,2)

Combine these ingredients with pastured butter, real salt, pastured eggs and a glass of pastured raw milk on the side and not only will your belly be filled, but so will your baby’s.

*For the preparation of these ingredients, before baking, see the bottom of the recipe.
**Brewer’s yeast can be purchased online or at your natural foods store.

Ingredients

350* for 12-14 minutes
You’ll need a BIG bowl, a smaller bowl, a mixer is nice but not necessary, and a mixing spoon.
Bring all ingredients to room temperature before beginning for best results.

2 Tbsp flax seed meal
4 Tbsp water

For best nutritional breakdown, mix these two ingredients 8-12 hours ahead of time and cover with plastic wrap or a small plate to keep from drying out.

1 cup butter
1 cup coconut sugar
1 cup organic brown sugar – you can certainly experiment with alternative sweeteners here
2 pastured eggs
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups already sprouted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp real salt
3 cups oats, sprouted or soaked and dried
1 cup cocolate chips (I use the whole package)
2-4 Tbsp Brewer’s Yeast

Make It

Mix flax meal and water 8-12 hours before starting.

In big bowl:

Cream together butter and sugars.

Add eggs and combine.

Add flax mixture and vanilla, combine.

In smaller bowl:

Sift (or whisk) flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda and salt.

Add dry ingredients to the wet and combine.

Mix in oats and chocolate chips by hand.

Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes, depending on size, until golden.

Allow to cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transfering cookies to cooling rack. Don’t skip this step.

ENJOY!

Now, about the flour and oats. It’s important that we soak/sprout our flours, seeds, and oats to make the nutrients more accesible to us, therefore making the recipe that much healthier. Usually we can use the liquids from the recipe to do the soaking, but there’s not nearly enough liquid in this recipe to do that. You can buy already sprouted flour here, or at your natural food store. It can be used for all your baking needs.

About the oats, that’s a bit of a quandary. You can buy them here or at your natural food store. Or you can soak them in water with a tablespoon of lemon juice, vinegar or kefir, covered – over night. Then you can dry them in your dehydrator or, in my case, oven on very low heat < 200* for many hours. You can also try to mix them in wet, but I don’t know what the finished texture will be like. Let me know if you try it.

This post featured on: Party Wave Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Family Table Tuesday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Tasty Traditions, Small Footprint Friday, Sunday School, Fat Tuesday, Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Fight Back Friday