Cookies and Milk (not that kind…)
So a bunch of my girlfriends had babies this year, and all of them are nursing in lieu of using formula. As a mom, I know tips and tricks are always really helpful, so I thought I would create this recipe as a gift to all my fellow mommies out there. It’s a cookie loaded with incredibly healthy and natural ingredients like wheat germ and flax that taste amazing (and also happen to help boost supply for nursing moms)…
Another girlfriend of mine introduced me to lactation cookies, and I just thought why spend on a biweekly order when you can make ahead and freeze as much as you want! Galactagogues are foods, herbs, etc. that help promote lactation – these cookies have oats, flax, and brewer’s yeast, all of which are great at boosting your milk supply. Brewer’s yeast is not to be confused with regular old, active dry yeast used in baking. This type of yeast is the kind that’s used in beer-making, is rich in minerals, protein, and B vitamins, and can be found in powder form at the health food store.
Otherwise, these cookies taste great and are fine for the whole family to eat (without milk-producing consequences!). I love chocolate and dried fruit in mine, but you can play around with the add-ons because the recipe is pretty forgiving. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Yields approximately 2 dozen cookies (size-dependent)
1 ¼ cup oats
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup wheat germ
¼ cup ground flax seed
3 tablespoons brewers yeast
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
¾ cup dried cranberries or cherries
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
In a bowl, mix together oats, flour, wheat germ, flax, brewer’s yeast, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer using a paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening and both sugars. Add the egg and vanilla extracts. Add oat mixture and mix until almost completely incorporated. It should mostly be sticking to the paddle at this point. Scrape down, add in chips and dried fruit and mix for another 15 to 20 seconds until uniform.
At this point, I like to turn the cookie dough out onto plastic wrap, form into a cylinder, and freeze for about 10 minutes. This makes it easier to cut into even sized, round cookies. Conversely, you can just drop rounded spoonfuls a few inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes depending on how chewy or crunchy or what size you made the cookies. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.