These No-Bake Lactation Cookies are quick and easy 15-minute cookies for breastfeeding mums looking for healthy snacks that boost their milk supply. In fact, these no-bake cookies are packed with whole grains, seeds, and nuts that not only keep you full and energy but also support breastmilk production.
Lactation Cookies are easy, healthy cookies that can help increase breast milk supply. They contain ingredients rich in galactogogues which are natural compounds mimicking the hormone stimulating milk production. It’s a very natural process that has been known for thousands of years.
There are many foods rich in galactogogues such as fennel, chickpeas, lentil, raw nuts, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, ginger, dandelions, or Brewer’s yeast. My lactation balls below combine oats, brewer’s yeast, peanuts, almonds, and flaxseed which are all known to be galactogogues.
That’s the best part about this no-bake lactation bites recipe, there’s no baking required! It means they are:
- Faster to make
- More nourishing – no heat involved that often remove some of the nutritional values from nuts and seeds.
Ingredients and Substitutions
First, gather all these pantry ingredients on your benchtop. Skip to the later section in this post for swaps if you have some food allergies.
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats – Whole grains increase your milk supply by stimulating the prolactin hormone responsible for milk production in breastfeeding women.
- Ground Flaxseed – Flaxseed contains phytoestrogens that may boost milk production. It also contains healthy fatty acids including omega-6 and omega-3.
- Brewer’s Yeast – This is a great natural plant-based supplement while breastfeeding as it’s high in iron, vitamins, chromium, selenium, and plenty of other minerals. It’s not only used to boost milk production but also helps with post-partum mood!
- Peanut Butter – I used natural drippy peanut butter fresh from the jar. You can also use fresh drippy almond butter or any nut butter you love.
- Maple Syrup or brown rice syrup or agave syrup.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk – Any non-dairy milk works, like soy milk, coconut milk, or cashew milk.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – I used dairy-free chocolate chips but any chips you love can be used.
- Pumpkin Seeds – or sunflower seeds.
- Chopped Almonds – Nuts are packed with protein, calcium, and healthy fat important for baby brain development.
You can customize this recipe to your taste by adding some of the below ingredients. Keep in mind that any addition of powder dries out the batter and you may have to add a touch of almond milk to help the dough comes together.
- Cocoa Powder – 1 tablespoon for a chocolate flavor.
- Protein Powder – 1 tablespoon for more protein.
- Dried Fruits – Finely chopped like apricots, dates, cranberries, or raisins.
How To Make No-Bake Lactation Cookies
It’s very easy to make raw lactation cookies, let me show you where to start.
- First, bring all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and combine.
- Next, in another bowl, combine the liquid ingredients: maple syrup, peanut butter, almond milk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Finally, combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until it forms a dough that you can easily squeeze together to shape balls.
- Place the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes. The dough becomes less sticky and easier to work with. You can skip this step to make faster no-bake lactation cookies.
- Slightly grease your hand with coconut oil first to prevent the dough to stick to your hands.
- Then, shape 12 dough balls from the dough and place each dough ball on a plate covered with parchment appear.
- Then, press each ball to slightly flatten them down into a cookie shape. You can also keep them round to make lactation energy bites.
- Finally, refrigerate to harden slightly or enjoy straight away as a soft lactation cookie.
Serving Suggestions
These cookies are perfect as a quick snack when you are feeding your baby. As mums, we know how long it can take to breastfeed and it often stimulates hunger. So having 2 or 3 of these cookies available while breastfeeding is a great fulfilling snack.
Taste And Texture
These are soft, chewy no baked cookies with crunchy bites of nuts and chocolate. Some mums notice a bitter aftertaste when they use Brewer’s yeast for the first time. That’s why I recommend using debittered Brewer’s yeast in baking. The only consequence of this variety of yeast is that you don’t get chromium in the debittered version.
Allergy Swaps
If you have some food allergies, I listed below some swaps to make these lactation cookies suitable for everyone.
- Nut-Free – Swap the peanut butter for sunflower seed butter or tahini and replace almonds for seeds like pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, and sunflower seeds.
- Gluten-Free – There are plenty of gluten-free certified oats available on the market. You can also use other wholegrain gluten-free cereals like puffed quinoa or amaranth.
- Sugar-Free – Brewer’s yeast is not always recommended to diabetics because it can spike blood sugar levels. If so, simply skip it in the recipe or replace it with the same amount of almond flour. You can replace maple syrup with a sugar-free liquid sweetener to decrease carbs and avoid extra sugar. Finally, swap the chocolate chips for a sugar-free variety or more chopped nuts or coconut flakes.
Storage Instructions
These lactation cookies can be stored for up to one week in an airtight container. You can also freeze lactation balls and thaw them at room temperature the day before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s not because these cookies help to boost your breastmilk hormones to produce milk that it’s only for mums. After all, these lactation cookies are simply nutrient-dense wholegrain cookies that fit in anyone’s healthy diet.
It takes a little while before a cookie or any food you eat released its nutrients into your blood. It first has to go through digestion and consequently it can take about 6 hours before you notice any benefits from eating lactation cookies.
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No-Bake Lactation Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats - or quick oats
- ¼ cup Flaxseed Meal
- 1 ½ tablespoons Debittered Brewer's Yeast
- ¼ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Seeds
- 2 tablespoons Chopped Almond - or dried fruits like cranberries or raisins
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- ½ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - fresh and drippy jar. You can swap for almond butter.
- 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Almond Milk - at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, stir in old-fashioned oats, ground flaxseed, Brewer's yeast, Pumpkin Seeds, chopped almonds, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine peanut butter, almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula at first, then squeeze with lightly oiled or wet hands to help the ingredients come together. The dough is sticky, and that's normal. Set aside for 10 minutes in the fridge to give the flaxseed meal time to absorb the liquid.
- Then, lightly oil your hands again with coconut oil, roll 12 balls between your hands, and place each ball on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving a thumb space between each. Then, flatten each ball with your hand to form a cookie.
- Refrigerate for about 1 hour to set the cookies.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 days or freeze for later. Thaw at room temperature before eating.
Could u use Nutritional Yeast instead of Brewer’s yeast?
No, nutritional yeast is savory and add a cheesy flavor to food, it won’t taste very good in cookies. But you can make the cookies without the yeast, oats and flaxmeal add lots of nutritional value to boost breastmilk already, enjoy!