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.
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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 The website that she sold the e-cookbook from is no longer active, so I can’t link to it, unfortunately.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.
Hi, I was wondering if you have ever experimented with using coconut milk to soak the flax in?
I haven’t! But I would love to hear how it works if you try it!
These are so good!!! I added some shredded coconut since I had a bag that I wanted to use up. I made them for my sister too who just had a baby. We told our husbands they would make them lactate since we want to eat them all 😂
HAHAHA! Thank you so much!!!
I am dairy free, so I used vegan buttery sticks (1 cup). I also substituted 1/2 cup stevia for sugar and reduced the cook time to 19 minutes. (Could just be my oven). I’ve made them 3 times now, they turn out great!
So glad you liked them!
How long is this good for befor it starts to go bad? Really excited to try these!!!! Thank you
I hope you like them! My family probably ate out of the pan for at least 3 days? At least that many should be fine!
Hi. Is this recipe rising on its own cos you haven’t used baking powder/soda? Thanks a lot!
Yes! 🙂
Made 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?
Yay! I would do 2-3 a day if you can! 🙂
Can u freeze these?
I would follow these steps!
https://www.chsugar.com/baking-tips-how-tos/how-to-make-perfect-brownies/cutting-and-storing-brownies
Can i use quick cooking oats instead of old fashioned? And will it be the same measurement?
I 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!
How much flaxseed should i put if i would like to add brewer’s yeast?
Hi! The original recipe called for 2 tbsp flax seed and 2 tbsp brewer’s yeast, so I would do that! 🙂
hey 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 🤗🤗
Thank you so much Angelee!
Can I use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder?
All purpose or self rising flour?
All purpose! 🙂
Can you use steel cut oats vs old fashioned?
Hi 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!
Do you strain the flax seed out? Or add the water and flax seed into the mixture. Asking because I’d love to make these 🙂
It absorbs it, so no need to strain! 🙂
I just made some and they’re oh sooo good! Thanks for sharing this recipe. 😍
Yay, thanks!
350 deg celcius?
Fahrenheit! 🙂
I 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!
Me too I did the same thing you did the brownies are amazing