Blissful Motherhood - සොඳුරු මව් පදවිය

Lactation Cookies

Today's post is about to present the first recipe in this blog. The recipe is about a food that helps increasing the breast milk supply of nursing mothers.

Breastfeeding mothers in Sri Lanka can find many lactating foods such as jack-fruit, baby jack-fruit, shark fish, and kiri anguna leaves. But for some, especially those living abroad, it is very difficult to find such food. These are some of the problems some breastfeeding mothers have…

“I can't find many lactating foods like jack-fruit. Can you tell me what food to make instead”?

“Can you give me some recipes of easy-to-make lactating foods which I can store for about a month?”

“I eat some curries to increase my breast milk supply. I would love to try some sweets as well which helps lactation. Do you know of such dishes?”

Below is a well-nourished recipe, lactation cookies, that can be easily prepared for such mothers. Not only breast-feeding mothers, but also children above one year (cookies have sugar, so you should not give them to children who are below one year) and adults can taste these yummy and nourishing cookies.

I have found the initial lactation cookies recipe from 'Pinterest'. But I am not going to use the recipe as it is here. I have made some changes as necessary. The link of the Pinterest recipe is given below. I am not using an electric beater to make these cookies. Instead I use a hand whisk. Let’s see the ingredients required to make these cookies.

Ingredients:

Ingredients

6 tablespoons of butter (85 g)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil 928 g)
½ cup of brown sugar (100 g) [If you are using white sugar, use ¾ cup (170 g)]
2 ½ tablespoons of brewer’s yeast (21 g)
1 ½ cups of oats (135 g)
¾ cup of all-purpose flour (90 g)
1 ½ tablespoons of flax seeds

If you cannot find flax seeds and brewer’s yeast, 4 tablespoons of sesame seeds can be used as a substitute for flax seeds and brewer’s yeast

1 tablespoon of water
½ cup of chocolate chips (90 g)
1 egg
½ teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla
½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Oats, coconut oil, brewer's yeast, and, flax seeds in this recipe are the ingredients that specifically help with a lactating mother's milk supply. For those who cannot find brewer’s yeast and flax seeds, sesame seeds is a great substitute because sesame seeds also help increasing the breast milk supply.

You can omit adding the egg, if you do not like to add an egg to this recipe. But you need to add one additional tablespoon of coconut oil to the recipe. In total, you have to add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, if you are not using an egg for this recipe. If you want these cookies to be less sweet, you can cut 2 tablespoons of brown sugar from the given amount. Remove 3 tablespoons from the given amount, if you are using white sugar. Now let’s start making the cookies. For visual aids, please refer the video below .

First, line the baking tray with a parchment paper. Then, turn on the oven and set the temperature to 170⁰C.

Now, add butter and coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Whisk until it becomes a smooth cream. Then, gradually add sugar and whisk. If you use powdered sugar, you do not need to whisk for a long time as the sugar will be dissolved quickly. If you use sugar crystals, it takes much longer whisking time for the sugar crystals to get dissolved. Next, add the egg and whisk again until the egg is fully mixed. Add vanilla and mix. Add baking powder to flour. Gradually sift flour mixture to the cookie batter and mix well. Once all the flour is mixed, add water. If your cookie batter is too runny, you can omit adding water. Add brewer's yeast and flax seeds, and mix until everything is well combined. If you do not have brewer's yeast and flax seeds, you can add sesame seeds instead.

Final batter

Do not forget to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl while mixing. Gradually add oats to the cookie batter and mix well. Add cinnamon powder. If you do not like the taste of cinnamon powder, you can omit this step. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Now you are done adding all the ingredients. The consistency of the final batter should not be too thick, but not watery as well.

Scooped cookie batter

Scoop the cookie batter to baking tray. I normally use a tablespoon to scoop the batter to tray. Leave about 2 inches gap between two scooped cookie balls, to give them enough space to spread while baking. Bake the cookies at 170⁰C for about 15-18 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on the type and accuracy of your oven. Therefore, better to check your cookies after 12 or 13 minutes. If the cookies are baked properly, the tops must be crunchy, and should have slightly browned bottoms. If they are not properly baked, keep them in the oven for another 2-3 minutes. You can make about 2 dozen of cookies from this batter.

If you store the cookies in an airtight container, they will stay fresh for 2 weeks without refrigeration. These cookies can be stored for a month in the refrigerator.

If you are a breastfeeding mother, you can certainly improve your milk supply by having 3-4 of these cookies per day. However, not only breastfeeding mothers, anybody can enjoy these tasty and nourishing lactation cookies. I hope you will try this recipe.

Check the below video for further details.