One of my friends recently had a baby, and when I brought her dinner last week, I thought it would be fun to make her some lactation brownies for dessert. Lactation brownies are mostly normal brownies with a few ingredients that are thought to increase milk supply for some women. The idea is to maximize the ingredients that boost milk supply while having brownies that still taste delicious.
This recipe is based off of one Sarah Biggins wrote as part of a cookbook named More Milk Please. The website that she sold the e-cookbook from is no longer active, so I can’t link to it, unfortunately. But I had made her version of the brownies four years ago, when I was breastfeeding baby #2, and they were freaking delicious, so I was excited to try them again.
One of the things that I changed about the recipe was not including brewer’s yeast. The original recipe had three galactagogues – old fashioned oats, flax seed, and brewer’s yeast.
The thing about brewer’s yeast is that it’s not easy to find it locally – it typically requires a trip to a Whole Foods or a health food store. Your best bet is to get it from Amazon, but that requires more organization and planning ahead than I have in me some days. Also, it’s not cheap – a tub of it costs about $15, and then you would only use two tablespoons of the 16oz tub for this recipe.
So, I decided to modify the recipe to only use the oats and flax seed, but to use more of them.
The original recipe called for 1 cup of oats and 2 tbsp of ground flax seed. Initially, I increased the oats to 1.5 cups and the flax seed to 1/4 cup.
These were really good – my son loved them, so much so that I worried he might start lactating. However, I kind of felt like I’d overdone the oatmeal a bit, so I reduced them down to 1.25 cups the next time I made the brownies, and kept the flax seed the same. This batch was much better, so that’s what I went with for this recipe.
If you have brewer’s yeast on hand and want to include it, you can definitely add it in. I would use 2 tbsp and add it in with the flour.
The big question, of course, is do lactation brownies really work? Everyone is different, but my experience has been that I would get a small boost from them, similar to what you might get from drinking Mother’s Milk Tea or eating oatmeal for breakfast. It’s not an earth-shattering change, but it’s a nice boost, and eating lactation brownies is way more fun that drinking tea or eating oatmeal!
Double Chocolate Lactation Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter melted
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup ground flax seed soaked in 1/4 cup water for 10 minutes
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flax seed until combined.
- Stir in flour, cocoa powder, salt.
- Fold in chocolate chips and oatmeal.
- Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
- Bake for 20-23 minutes.
Arnulfo Lopez says
May 25, 2019 at 7:46 pmMade these for my wife and she and I love them lol her milk supply had lowered but seems like it is getting better. Just one question how many brownies should she eat a day?
Amanda Glenn says
May 25, 2019 at 9:23 pmYay! I would do 2-3 a day if you can! 🙂
Icela says
May 6, 2019 at 7:02 amCan u freeze these?
Amanda Glenn says
May 6, 2019 at 8:48 amI would follow these steps!
https://www.chsugar.com/baking-tips-how-tos/how-to-make-perfect-brownies/cutting-and-storing-brownies
Angelee says
April 25, 2019 at 9:25 amCan i use quick cooking oats instead of old fashioned? And will it be the same measurement?
Amanda Glenn says
April 25, 2019 at 3:34 pmI haven’t tried quick cooking in this recipe but I think it will be fine, and yes, use the same measurement. Let me know how it goes!
Nurul says
January 31, 2019 at 7:57 pmHow much flaxseed should i put if i would like to add brewer’s yeast?
Amanda Glenn says
February 1, 2019 at 8:03 amHi! The original recipe called for 2 tbsp flax seed and 2 tbsp brewer’s yeast, so I would do that! 🙂
Angelee says
April 26, 2019 at 2:51 pmhey amanda,i so love your recipe.i used the quick cooking btw since that’s what i have here 🙂 my partner and kids loves it to. . thank you for sharing this 🤗🤗
Amanda Glenn says
April 26, 2019 at 6:30 pmThank you so much Angelee!
Shana says
January 29, 2019 at 5:40 pmCan I use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder?
Nakisha says
January 24, 2019 at 4:41 pmAll purpose or self rising flour?
Amanda Glenn says
January 25, 2019 at 8:46 amAll purpose! 🙂
Michelle says
January 23, 2019 at 7:10 pmCan you use steel cut oats vs old fashioned?
Amanda Glenn says
January 23, 2019 at 7:51 pmHi Michelle! I have not tried this. I have both steel cut and old-fashioned oats at home, and I just checked the nutritional info to see how they compare. The steel cut seem to be more dense – 1/4 cup is 150 calories versus 1/2 cup of old fashioned. So I’m guessing the proportions would be wrong – sorry!
Mary says
December 29, 2018 at 11:19 amDo you strain the flax seed out? Or add the water and flax seed into the mixture. Asking because I’d love to make these 🙂
Amanda Glenn says
December 29, 2018 at 3:47 pmIt absorbs it, so no need to strain! 🙂
Joanna says
December 28, 2018 at 12:27 pmI just made some and they’re oh sooo good! Thanks for sharing this recipe. 😍
Amanda Glenn says
December 29, 2018 at 3:49 pmYay, thanks!
izzy says
October 23, 2018 at 8:31 am350 deg celcius?
Amanda Glenn says
October 23, 2018 at 6:25 pmFahrenheit! 🙂
Beth R. says
September 24, 2018 at 5:48 pmI swapped whole wheat flour and used 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter and these are the BEST brownies I’ve ever had!! So fudgey and amazing plus give me a milk boost. Score!! I did add the brewers yeast too. I’ve made these 3x already!
Tiffany says
May 20, 2019 at 1:03 pmMe too I did the same thing you did the brownies are amazing