Today we’re making oatmeal cookies for breastfeeding moms. However, what started as a lactation cookie, quickly became a family favorite. Now they’re are go-to breakfast cookie (and yes, that’s a food category!).
Why New Moms Deserve the Best Lactation Cookies
When you’re a nursing mom, you’re burning calories so fast, you can barely keep up. You have a new baby who wakes you up at all hours of the night, and you’re terrified about your breast milk supply. Clearly, you deserve a fantastically delicious and healthy lactation cookie recipe to keep you going AND increase your milk production.
While our days of breastfeeding are far behind us, we have brought with us from those sleep-addled times a delightful cookie. It’s so delicious and healthy that we continue to feed it to our kids for both breakfast (and gleefully, given the health quotient) for dessert. I guess you could call this a cookie for the whole family, or really, for just about anyone.
A Healthy Cookie? Is that an Oxymoron?
We were happy to find this cookie because, if you’re going to eat cookies three (or four, or five) meals a day, it’s best that the key ingredients have some kind of nutritional value. This lactation cookies recipe fit the bill because it relies primarily on nutritional powerhouse(s) of bananas and peanut butter for sweetness. The oats (and this cookie has lots of oats) are a traditional remedy to increase milk supply while also being a good fibrous and dense morning meal. The flaxseed meal further contributes to the overall health quotient of the cookie, as does the use of coconut oil. So, make a batch of these delicious cookies, feed them to your family, and feel good about your (reasonably healthy) life choices!
Why these are the Best Oatmeal Cookies for Breastfeeding Moms
These easy lactation cookies are ideal for a new mama to make, even in the middle of the night, since it requires no equipment other than a fork, a bowl, and a baking sheet. It’s possible that we’ve sleep-walked through making these cookies at least once. These cookies freeze well, so can be a great gift for a new mom. They also have the wonderful quality of consisting pretty much entirely of pantry items (we stock frozen overripe bananas in our freezer, so count that as a pantry item!), so are a great recommendation for those awful first few weeks with the new baby when getting to a grocery store feels like a journey around the world on an angry camel.
Disclaimer about these Oatmeal Cookies for Breastfeeding:
No lactation consultant was consulted in selecting, testing, or baking your recipe. We also did not perform any clinical trials, so have no idea if this recipe actually increases milk production. What we do know, however, is that these cookies are darn delicious.
Recipe Facts:
- Yield: 10 cookies
- Active Time: 10 minutes
- Bake Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
Healthy Ingredients:
- 1 overripe banana
- 1/8 cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp honey or white sugar
- 1/2 large egg
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tbsp ground flax (optional)
- 1/2 cup white lour or whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup of oats (whole oats or quick cooking oats; don’t use steel cut oats)
- 1/8 cup mini dark chocolate chips
- 1/8 cup coconut flakes (optional)
Directions for the Oatmeal Cookies for Breastfeeding Moms:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mash banana in a large bowl and stir together with coconut oil, peanut butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and flax.
- Mix in flour, baking soda, and oats and blend until just combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips and coconut flakes, if using.
- Scoop 2 tbsp of cookie dough onto the sheet. Repeat, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Flatten the cookies a little bit, if you like them flatter, or leave them mounded if you want a round cookie. They will not flatten on their own.
- Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool before removing from the cookie sheet, or just devour straight out of the oven as we do. These cookies supposedly keep for a couple of days in a airtight container, but we can’t say we’ve ever had that problem in our house.
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