Vegan Lactation Cookies Recipe (Gluten Free, Healthy)
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This healthy, gluten free lactation cookies recipe is perfect for nursing moms! These vegan lactation cookies are low in sugar, easy to make, store well, and contain ingredients to help boost milk supply & production for breastfeeding. They also happen to be delicious!
About This Recipe
This one is for all the new moms out there! When I was nursing both of my kids, I remember looking for anything that would naturally boost my milk supply without having any unwanted side effects (for me or my kids!) Lactation cookies were recommended to me by so many other moms and by my lactation consultant, but every lactation cookie recipe I came across was loaded with sugar, empty calories and refined grains.
I didn’t want to have to eat the equivalent of a candy bar multiple times a day in order to boost my milk supply, so I decided to come up with a much healthier version of a lactation cookie that still tasted as good as a regular cookie! These really are the best lactation cookies – they not only taste delicious but they are healthy too. They are vegan, low in sugar and gluten free – so you can feel good about eating a couple of these a day while you’re breastfeeding your little one. Oh and the most important thing — these lactation cookies WORK! 🙂
And if you’re more of a brownie fan, try these lactation brownies instead!
How to Make Vegan Lactation Cookies
Ingredients and Notes
Rolled Oats: You’ll grind some of these into your own oat flour, and keep some whole. To ensure these healthy lactation cookies remain gluten free, use certified gluten free oats. I don’t recommend gluten-free flour, because oats are one of the ingredients in these cookies that increase breast milk production!
Ground Flax Meal or Ground Flaxseed Meal: Ground flaxseeds are much more effective than whole flax seeds at helping to increase milk supply. We turn them into flax eggs to use in place of eggs to make this recipe vegan.
Coconut Oil: A vegan substitute for butter!
Coconut Sugar: You could also use maple syrup or brown sugar here!
Debittered brewer’s yeast: This is one of the key ingredients to helping boost breast milk supply!
Vanilla Extract and Sea Salt: To enhance the natural sweetness of these cookies without adding too much sugar.
Baking Soda: To help the cookies rise!
Dark Chocolate Chips and Coconut Flakes: Optional, but delicious! Use dairy free dark chocolate chips instead of regular to keep these cookies vegan!
Equipment Needed
Instructions
Preheat Oven and Make Oat Flour: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Pour 1.5 cups of oats into a blender or food processor, and process them into a fine flour. (Don’t take the blender lid off right away– set the blender aside while the flour settles.)
Mix Wet Ingredients and Add Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl combine the ground flax seeds with the water, and stir well to mix. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Add in the coconut oil, coconut sugar, debittered brewer’s yeast, vanilla, baking soda, and salt, and stir again until well combined. Gradually stir in the oat flour until a dough is formed, then fold in the 1 cup of oats and dark chocolate chips.
Add Lactation Cookie Dough To Baking Sheet: Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the lined baking sheet, then use your fingers or a back of the spoon to flatten the cookies. Leave a little room between the cookies to allow for spread.
Bake and Serve! Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges. At 10 minutes your cookies will be crisp around the edges but nice and soft in the center (they’ll become more crispy the longer you bake them). Let the cookies cool before serving.
What Makes This Lactation Cookie Recipe Healthy?
These vegan lactation cookies are packed with nutritious ingredients to help with breastmilk production. Here’s why they’re both delicious and nutritious for you!
- Plenty of Whole Grains: You won’t find any refined grains or white flour in this recipe! Packed with rolled oats and oat flour, these cookies are both high in whole grains and healthy carbs to keep you fuller longer.
- Low in Calories: Most lactation cookie recipes can have 200 calories per cookie! These are only about 140 calories which means you can enjoy two per day as a mini meal or even for breakfast!
- Low in Added Sugar: Each cookie has only about 9 grams of sugar, which is much less than the typical 20+ grams of sugar you’ll find in most lactation cookie recipes.
- High in Healthy Fats: Flaxseeds and coconut oil give you a dose of healthy fats in this recipe.
Recipe FAQs
WHAT ARE LACTATION COOKIES? WHAT THIS MAKES LACTATION COOKIE RECIPE WORK?
Lactation cookies contain ingredients that boost nutrients to promote more milk supply for breast feeding moms. They also provide an energy boost that is often much needed! These vegan lactation cookies contain galactagogues, which is a fancy word for a food that helps promote lactation in humans and animals. Brewer’s yeast, flaxseed meal and whole oats are all galactagogues and are all ingredients in this lactation cookie recipe! One note about brewer’s yeast – you should check with your doctor before adding it to your diet since it can interact with a variety of medications and cause some unwanted side effects.
DO LACTATION COOKIES MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT?
Most lactation cookies are basically as unhealthy as a candy bar, so if you eat too many of the “traditional” version you will likely put on some extra weight! These cookies are about 140 calories each, so I’d say if you ate 1-2 per day while you were nursing you wouldn’t put on extra weight. As with all foods, these cookies should be eaten in moderation as part of a well balanced diet.
HOW MANY LACTATION COOKIES SHOULD I EAT EACH DAY?
I’d recommend sticking to 2 cookies per day – that should be enough to boost your milk supply without adding too much sugar to your diet. If you do plan to eat more than 2 of these per day, I’d recommend cutting the amount of sugar in this recipe by half, so your cookies have only about 4.5 grams of sugar each instead of 9 grams of sugar each.
CAN KIDS EAT LACTATION COOKIES?
Yes! All of the ingredients in these vegan lactation cookies are kid-friendly. If your pediatrician is ok with your child eating brewer’s yeast, you can give them these cookies as-is. You can also just omit the brewer’s yeast altogether to make this a healthy cookie for your kids!
How to Store
- To Store in the Fridge: Let the cookies cool and transfer to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or store on the counter at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: Let the cool and transfer to an airtight freezer safe container or freezer bag, with parchment paper separating the cookies. Freeze for up to 4 months. To defrost, thaw in the fridge overnight, then reheat in the microwave!
Expert Tips
- When you place the cookies on the baking sheet, leave a little room between them to allow for spread.
- You can get brewers yeast from health food stores, or in the health food isles of supermarkets, or you can even find it online!
- Do not omit the brewers yeast when making these cookies to boost milk supply – that’s the main ingredient that makes these delicious cookies work.
- Feel free to make a double batch of these cookies and store half in the freezer for later!
More Healthy Cookie Recipes!
- Vegan Breakfast Cookies
- Secretly Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Coconut and Chia Seed Cookies
- Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
If you have tried this vegan lactation cookies recipe, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious, healthy, family friendly food!
Lactation Cookie Recipe
This healthy, vegan, and gluten-free lactation cookie recipe is perfect for nursing moms! These lactation cookies are low in sugar, easy to make, store well, and contain ingredients to help boost milk supply & production for breastfeeding. They also happen to be delicious!
Servings: 18 cookies
Calories: 142.1kcal
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups rolled oats ground into a flour
- 1 cup rolled oats remain whole
- 4 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 10 tbsp water or ⅝ cup of water
- 6 tbsp coconut oil melted and cooled
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup debittered brewer’s yeast
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Pour 1.5 cups of oats into a blender, and process them into a fine flour. (Don’t take the blender lid off right away– set the blender aside while the flour settles.)
- In a large bowl combine the ground flax seeds with the water, and stir well to mix. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Add in the coconut oil, coconut sugar, debittered brewer’s yeast, vanilla, baking soda, and salt, and stir again until well combined.
- Gradually stir in the oat flour until a dough is formed, then fold in the 1 cup of oats and dark chocolate chips.
- Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the lined baking sheet, then use your fingers or a back of the spoon to flatten the cookies.
- Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges.
- At 10 minutes your cookies will be crisp around the edges but nice and soft in the center (they’ll become more crispy the longer you bake them). Let the cookies cool before serving.
Notes
Top tips to make This Lactation Cookie Recipe
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, store on the counter at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- These cookies can be frozen too! Simply let them cool and put them in an airtight container or freezer bag with parchment separating them
- When you place the cookies on the baking sheet, leave a little room between them to allow for spread.
- The dough can a little crumbly, it might be easier if you use a scoop or just use a spoon.
- Add some chocolate chips for those with a sweet tooth!
- You can get brewers yeast from health food stores, or in the health food isles of supermarkets. It’s a bit cheaper to buy brewers yeast from supermarkets than from health food stores.
- Do not substitute the brewers yeast… that’s one of the main ingredients that helps these cookies to boost milk supply!
Nutrition
Calories: 142.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 18.6g | Protein: 2.6g | Fat: 7.1g | Saturated Fat: 4.9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 33.5mg | Potassium: 27.4mg | Fiber: 2.1g | Sugar: 9.6g
Okay so I’m due any day now with my second child. I’ve tried many lactation cookie recipes during my breastfeeding journey with my first child and these are honestly the best I’ve made so far. Thank you so much for your hardwork and time creating this recipe. I live at 6,000 ft so I was nervous to make this with the higher elevation but they turned out perfect. I did add about another cup of oats to be folded in at the end just cause I wanted more of a hold for the batter and it came out perfect. I’ll probably use more coconut shreds next time because it tasted amazing and I just wanted more.
Aw yay!! I’m so so happy to hear that Michelle! And congrats on the upcoming arrival of your little one! 🙂
So glad I found this recipe, I’m making these for my DIL who blessed me with a Grandson. 🙂
Congrats on becoming a grandmother! I hope your daughter in law loves these cookies!
I have so many friends that I’ve made these for and they’re always a hit!
Aw yay! So happy to hear that Mindy!
I love that these cookies include brewer’s yeast in the ingredients. I’ve been trying to find a way to incorporate it in my diet and this recipe is perfect for that.
Oh great! I can’t wait to hear how these turn out for you!
These cookies look delicious! I bet they will be great with dry cranberries as well.
Dry cranberries would be a great addition to these cookies! Hope you enjoy them!
These cookies look amazing and yummy! My daughter and hubby are going to love these cookies! Going to be a huge hit!
Yay! So happy to hear that Beth!
I can’t wait to try these cookies, thanks for providing a gluten free vegan recipe!
I want to pre-make these before our baby arrives and store in the freezer. How long can they be stored in the freezer and how long to thaw them out etc? Any tips would be much appreciated. Thank you
Hi Mel! These will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months! To thaw, leave them in the fridge overnight and then warm them in the oven or toaster oven for just a few minutes at 350 degrees (just until they are warmed through). Hope that helps and hope you enjoy these cookies!
These taste delicious but mine were really crumbly and fall apart super easily when you eat them (very messy). Any tips?
Hi Lizzie! I’m glad you liked the taste but that’s so strange they fell apart! They’re not meant to be super dense, but shouldn’t completely crumble either. I’d recommend adding 2 tbsp of vegan butter (or regular butter if you don’t need these to be vegan) to the batter and that should help!
Sounds great Anjali. I want to make for my friend who just delivered a baby. But can i omit the yeast?
Hi Ella! You can definitely omit the brewer’s yeast if you need to! But the brewer’s yeast is one of the key ingredients to support lactation in new moms, so if these cookies are for your friend who just had a baby, it might be helpful to keep it in! But these cookies will still taste great without it!
This recipe looks good except it’s missing the raisins. Can I substitute raisins for the chocolate chips?
Hi Amy! You don’t need raisins in a lactation cookie (typically) – but you can certainly add them in or substitute them for the chocolate chips if you prefer them to chocolate chips! 🙂
These cookies look delicious! I love that they are also gluten-free!
Thank you so much Julia! They really are so yummy!
I remember eating these cookies when I was nursing. So delicious.
Right?? I ate a ton of these when I was nursing and I’m pretty positive they helped my milk supply!
This is so perfect for nursing mothers! Such a great share
Aw thank you so much Tisha! 🙂
What a delicious cookie option, whether you’re nursing or not!
It really is! Thanks Lisa! 🙂
These cookies are delicious, and everyone should give this a try, not just new Moms. 🙂
Thank you so much! I agree! 🙂