The Unclaimed Gift: More Milk For Mommy Cookies

"Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Genesis 1:29

So.....sometimes things occur in life to just make you shrug and say "why not?" Yes this is one of those times!

As most of you know, I am in North Carolina taking care of my grands while middle daughter finishes her last semester of college (Yay for graduation being in sight!) Since I didn't have a "plan ahead" gene to pass along to my children, the littlest princess was born just a few weeks before school started. After a lot of begging and pleading with a few tears thrown in, middle daughter and her husband finally gave in and let me come out to take care of the kids.

With all the stress of student teaching along with college classes, middles ability to nurse the new princess was becoming a little difficult. Even with the high speed electric breast milk pump (have you seen the price of these things?), the supply began to dwindle.

Someone mentioned Lactation Cookies to middle who mentioned them to her crazy about baking mom (me). I had never heard of such things but anything combined with the word cookie couldn't be bad. So off I went to find the ingredients because I love a good challenge. I mean really. If middle could boost her milk supply by eating cookies, there couldn't be a down side.

Low and behold.....THEY WORKED!!!! I was totally shocked at how quickly they began to help as well as the increased layer of milk fat that was evident.

One thing about my baking side is my desire to constantly improve things. While the first few batches were good, I have been tweaking the recipe until today's version was deemed excellent! (I added a little cinnamon glaze because I had some leftover from another batch of pumpkin scones) The original recipe I started with was one I found at wheybeyondthenakedtruth. Be sure to join Martine's blog for more great mom ideas.

More Milk For Mommy Cookies

2 Tbl ground flax seed
2 Tbl water (you can use juice or green tea or whole milk as well)
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 Tbl Brewers Yeast (I used nutritional yeast because it was all I could find but from my research brewers yeast is definitely better)
3 cups oats (you can use quick cooking but old fashioned rolled oats are best)
1 Tbl pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbl cinnamon
2 sticks butter (1 cup) softened (please use butter not margarine. you need the healthy fat that comes with butter)
1 cup dark brown sugar (you can use light brown, I just like molasses flavored anything)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ground flax seed with liquid in a small bowl and set aside. Mix flour, baking soda, yeast, and oats together in a separate bowl. Using mixer, blend butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing thoroughly. Add vanilla, softened flax seed and pumpkin puree, again mixing thoroughly. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix well. Stir in cranberries and coconut. (You can change it up and replace cranberries with raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips....well you get the idea.

I use a cookie scoop to place the dough on a large cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper or your handy dandy cooking mat (you MUST get one, it is the bomb!). If you don't have a cookie scoop, you can use a cereal spoon to measure out the dough. The cookies don't spread very much when cooking. I usually get about 12 cookies per pan and the recipe makes 36 cookies using the cookie scoop. (These cookies will stick to a cookie sheet so I highly recommend the parchment paper or cooking mat.)

Bake for 14-16 minutes depending on your oven. They should be brown around the edges but don't over bake them. Cool them on a cookie rack.

Now....brewers yeast and flax seed can cause gas if consumed in large quantities. So...these aren't cookies you want to eat by the dozen. Two in the morning and two in the evening seemed to do the trick for my daughter.

Let me know if you have some lactation cookie recipes and how they work for you! Middle and I are planning to have a lactation cookie recipe swap over the holidays for her nursing mom friends.

I know you are wondering what on earth Lactation Cookies have to do with the usual path my blog goes down. I have decided that God has taken me on this journey to learn new things to share with you, my sweet friends. I love the Message version of Proverbs 31:27 "She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth, diligent in homemaking." I learned homemaking from the women in my family and I have been neglectful in sharing those talents with younger women, including my own daughters. So sprinkled in with the devotions, traveling, and chaos will be an increase in recipes and kitchen tips.

Thank you for coming along for the journey. Blessings,

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©2014MichelleWelch, team member of Breath Of Life Women's Ministries
and Single Matters Magazine
photography by Michelle Welch, all rights reserved
Cookie recipe originally from http://wheybeyondthenakedtruth.com/2013/09/03/lactation-cookies/, Written by Martine, Copyright © Whey Beyond the Naked Truth
New International Version (NIV)