In my breastfeeding posts about What to Eat While Breastfeeding and Pumping in Your Classroom, I refer to lactation cookies as a great snack to keep mama energized and the milk flowin’. It was time I shared a recipe of my own! (Read: it was time I stopped sending y’all off my site to other people’s damn cookies.) 
So, without further ado, a lactation cookie like none other, packed with all the good stuff those mammary glands (and fading energy) could use: protein from peanut butter and coconut flour, iron from brewer’s yeast and oatmeal, and a nice serving of healthy fats.
A note about the ingredients: Some ingredients, like coconut flour, aren’t always readily accessible (or can’t be found at a reasonable price). If you live in an area with limited options, try Green Polka Dot Box, an online grocery store, that will deliver to your doorstep.
- 1 cup peanut butter (Feel free to substitute another nut butter.)
- ½ cup raw honey (Substitute agave nectar for vegan preparation.)
- ¼ c. flax meal
- 1 cup coconut flour
- ½ cup rolled oats (be sure to choose gluten-free)
- 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast (use brewers yeast if gluten is not an issue)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup non-dairy milk
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine ¼ c. flax meal with ½ c. water. Allow to rest while you prepare the other ingredients. The mixture will be ready when the flax has absorbed most of the water and is almost gelatinous.
- In a large bowl, combine coconut flour, oats, baking powder, and brewer’s yeast.
- Once the flax mixture is ready, add it and all the remaining ingredients to the flour mixture.
- Stir well to combine. Add more milk in tablespoon increments, if necessary. (Coconut flour has a tendency to soak up all the liquid.)
- Once a dough has formed, roll into 1″ balls and place on cookie sheets.
- Flatten each ball with a fork before placing in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Scarf these cookies for a mid-afternoon snack with a glass of coconut or hemp milk, or, double the lactation benefits and have them with a tall glass of stout beer! 
More from Healthful Mama:
- Homemade Crescent Rolls–Dairy-free, too!
- What to Eat & What to Avoid While Breastfeeding
- Nut Butter Snack Balls: Kid Friendly!
- Gluten-Free Cauliflower Crust
- Seriously Perfect Pancakes
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I’m not currently lactating, but I want to eat these anyway! Yum!
These look so yummy! I tend to have oversupply in the beginning, but definitely needed a boost when I went back to work and was pumping. Cookies are an awesome way to do that! You should come share this recipe at my Homesteading Link Up! http://farmersdaughterct.com/2012/08/23/homesteading-link-up-and-new-goats
Will do, Abbie! Thanks
I was the same; never needed any help with supply until I returned to work.
Do you sell these cookies?
Hey, Mama!
Could I sub almond flour for the coconut flour? These look soooooooo goood, and I will definitely be adding chocolate chips, purely for the antioxidant protection, of course!
Hi Sally! You can sub almond flour but the consistency of the dough will change to be a bit looser.
Oats have gluten in them love…
If you’re buying traditional oats, then, yes, they are probably contaminated. I suggest buying a specifically gluten-free brand if you’re concerned with Celiac’s or otherwise. I like Bob’s Red Mill.
Unfortunately I live in Australia… all of our oats are contaminated.
I’ve tried ordering from America but they don’t seem to ship them here, quite frustrating
Hi Becci, I live in Melbourne and just bought uncontaminated oats at my local health food store. If you google gluten free oats you should also find a few Oz websites that sell them. For any other Aussies it’s worth noting that over here, nutritional yeast is called savoury yeast flakes and flax meal is linseed meal.
brewer’s yeast is not gluten free. It is a byproduct of beer brewing so it contains malt and or grain.
Well, shit, laRaie. You’re right! I totally forgot about that! Geez, I’m striking out on this one! I suppose you could substitute Nutritional Yeast, but that’s been said to contain MSG so… oy. The Brewer’s Yeast isn’t necessary to the recipe; it’s just good for promoting lactation. I’ll make a note in the recipe. Good call!
It’d be really smart to sub almond butter for the peanut butter in these. Almonds are also a milk booster!
Yum. I prefer almond butter over peanut in most scenarios.
Can you use rice flour instead of coconut flour?
You could try it, Heather, but my recipe takes into account the fact that coconut flour soaks up a lot of liquid.
Just thought I’d let you know, I tried the recipe with rice flour .. Did not turn out at all. i kept adding more and more flour because the cookies were too wet to cook through, but they were also too dense i think, so even when the consistency seemed good when raw they were more like playdough in consistency when cooked (gummy), and as I’ve also discovered, rice flour sucks the flavour out of things! Perhaps it could be tested with rice flour mixed with ground oats, as the recipe I ended up making afterwards did that and the consistency was better. Just wanna make sure no one else wasted their time on doing what I did. I’ll definitely have to try this recipe again when I can get a hold of some coconut flour though!
Thanks for the feedback, Heather! I appreciate that you took the time to give us an update. (And I’m sure someone will be grateful that they didn’t experiment with the rice flour after reading your comments!) Just a note–these are very dense cookies, even when made with coconut flour. They’re not gummy, but they are dense and sometimes crumbly. It’s a trade-off I’m willing to make for the protein and calorie benefits in the coconut flour.
Thanks for this recipe, I’m just about to try it! I was keen to make some lactation cookies as a healthy snack for a friend whose baby is due any day, when I remembered she avoids dairy and gluten, so this is perfect! I’m looking forward to eating some myself, too! It might be worth noting that 1 in 5 people with coeliac disease react to oats, as apparently there’s no such thing as truly gluten free oats, even uncontaminated ones (http://www.coeliac.org.au/coeliac-disease/faq.html).
I made these today and love them! I followed the recipe pretty closely except that I used 1/2 honey and 1/2 maple syrup and just regular whole milk since I’m not a vegan. I have had to eliminate wheat recently so I was thrilled to find this recipe. I’ve just run out of pumped milk for my 5 month old and am trying to pump like crazy to get the supply up a bit. Hopefully these will help!
Good luck with your supply! I know that feeling of being scared there “isn’t enough!” I used to eat oatmeal every day for breakfast and lactation cookies as my afternoon snack.
Thank you so much for your feedback and substitutions! I love hearing how recipes turned out for others.
These are delicious! I made a batch with almond butter as well but I must say I prefer the peanut butter. Even hubby thought they were pretty good! I popped some in the freezer and will pass them on to my friend when she comes home with her brand new bub … but I will definitely be making some more for me! Not that I’m having trouble making enough milk at the moment but being pregnant as well as breastfeeding a toddler, it’s a challenge to keep up my nutrition and energy levels, so these will make the perfect snack. Thank you!
Glad you liked them, Neri! Thanks for the follow-up! =D
I am so making these tomorrow in case you were wondering!
Let me know what you think!
Can i make this and eating without baking?
Solange, you could, I guess, though I don’t like the flavor of raw flour. You might like to try my Nut Butter Snack Balls, which are full of protein, easy to make, and require no baking
Thanks for answer me
I need the lactation cookies. I’m breastfeeding my almost 10 months old and i need a boost in my supply.
I’ll try it the unbaked dought if can’t eat, i’ll bake it
Let yoy know
The nut-butter balls would also help. They’re full of protein and oats!