cookies and milk

oatmeal raisin cookies

If you are squeamish about bodily fluids, stop reading here.  For this is not a recipe for the traditional kind of milk and cookies.  It's actually a recipe for cookies, and then you make the milk yourself, if you catch my drift. 

If there's one thing I've learned in my 19 and a half months of parenthood, it's that feeding can sometimes be a fraught and stressful endeavor.  The early weeks especially are filled with thoughts like, Is he latching correctly? Is it supposed to hurt like that? Is he gaining enough weight? Will he take a bottle? Will he get confused by the bottle and not want to go back to the breast? Will going back to work make my milk supply tank? Will I be able to get enough time to pump?

Anyone who's grappling with all this and at the same time recovering from a monumental physical event, suffering sleep deprivation and hormone storms, and not to mention manufacturing the entire food supply for a whole nother being definitely deserves a treat.  And a treat that you can eat with only one hand is extra convenient when you are spending the better part of your days plopped on the couch nursing and watching Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks on DVD.

But this recipe is not only a sweet treat to soothe and satisfy tired new moms.  Oh no.  It is also chock full of GALACTOGOGUES.  I had to write that in capital letters because, what a cool word.  It sounds like an amazing outer space creature.  In fact, a galactogogue is something that, when ingested, helps your body produce milk.  (Word nerd aside: the reason it sounds like words like galactic and galaxy is that those words are derived from the Greek term for breastmilk.  In Greek mythology, the "Milky Way" as we call it in English, was created when Zeus, who clearly knew the magical powers of breastmilk, snuck his illegitimate infant son onto his wife Hera's breast while she was sleeping so that the baby would drink her divine milk and become immortal. Hera woke up to this unknown baby nursing at her breast, and as she pushed the baby away, a stream of her milk sprayed into the sky, and thus our milky galaxy was born.)

Galactic effects notwithstanding, this is a perfectly yummy cookie for anyone to eat (and no it will not make regular people start lactating) but it will be especially appreciated by the nursing mothers in your life.  It's sweet, toasty, soft in the middle and crispy on the outside, and just a tiny bit salty. I just sent batches to two of my sister-in-laws who both gave birth to strapping young 8 pound lads this week, and I hope that it gives them a little help in nourishing those big healthy boys!

Out of this World Lactation Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter very softened
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
[optional] 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 Tablespoons flaxseed meal
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons brewer's yeast
2-1/2 cups oatmeal
1-1/2 cups raisins or chocolate chips
[optional] 1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream together the sugars and butter. Then add eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, and beat well.
In a small bowl or cup, combine flaxseed meal with 3 Tablespoons water to form a paste.  Mix this into the wet ingredients.
In a medium size bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.  Stir well and then mix into wet ingredients.
Form cookie dough into 2" balls then flatten each ball onto a cookie sheet. 
Bake 7 min or until edges are browned.  Cool on cookie sheet.

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.  What I like to do is, bake a dozen and put the other 2 cookie sheets in the freezer.  Once the patties of cookie dough are frozen solid, pop them off the cookie sheet into a ziploc bag and store for future baking.  You can make as many or as few at a time as you like, just add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.  (If you don't need any lactation support and you just want some of the best oatmeal cookies ever you can leave out the flaxseed meal and the brewer's yeast - though the oatmeal itself is also a galactogogue.)

Comments

[shy]

[this is good]

why thank you for sharing this recipe! i'm going to my friends' house this saturday, bringing dinner over for them. they just had twins! i'm going to try and bake these cookies that afternoon for dessert!

[Girly Mae]

Wow, mazel tov to your friends! Breastfeeding twins - that's quite a feat! I hope they like the cookies!  

[rose]

[this is good] I'm going to let my daughter make these for me, even though I gave up nursing 17 years ago. They look delish and super healthy with both flax and oatmeal.

[Jenna Brand]

I love this recipe and also everything you wrote about breastfeeding! Do you think you'd be willing to let me print this in the next issue of my little magazine, "the Birth Project"? email me at jennabirthproject.com