Yes, you read that right. Brown Butter Maple Pumpkin Lactation Cookies. Sounds like something right out of your great grandma’s old cookbook, right? Trust me, granny ain’t got nothing on these cookies.
There’s just something about a nice, soft centered, crispy, caramel-ey tasting pumpkin cookie in the fall. When the weather starts to turn from short sleeve to sweater weather, many of us crave a cozy, warm cookie. Especially when you’re breastfeeding, your appetite can be enormous and you might find yourself craving something sweet. These cookies are great solution for that issue! Not only are they delicious, but they are also full of ingredients that will help boost your milk supply.
Main Ingredients
You might think to yourself, “How can a cookie boost my milk supply?” The answer lies in the specific ingredients chosen to be in these cookies.
- Butter Butter is a nutrient dense, healthy fat that provides energy, boosts healing, and helps regulate your sugar metabolism. (Which is great because these cookies do not lack in sugar… hehehe.)
- Pumpkin Pumpkin is loaded with an antioxidant known as beta carotene. Pumpkin also contains high levels of vitamin C. Neither of these specifically boost your breastmilk production, but they can help you and your baby to build and maintain a healthy immune system. When your immune system is healthy, your body can focus more on creating milk.
- Oats There are not a ton of oats in this recipe, (there are more in my Coconut Chocolate Chunk Lactation Cookies) but there are a few. Oats are popular with breastfeeding women because of their high iron content. Lower iron levels can reduce your milk supply. Therefore, eating something high in iron can help boost your milk supply. Oats are easy on your digestion, versatile (in that you can make them so many different ways), and they’re delicious! So why not add them to this recipe??
- Brewers yeast Brewers yeast is packed with several vitamins and nutrients. Protein, chromium, iron, selenium, and several B vitamins to name a few! Many women notice a huge difference in their milk supply within hours of eating brewers yeast.
What better way to celebrate these cooler fall days then by baking these toasty, maple-ey, pumpkin-ey cookies?? Honestly, I’m not even breast-feeding and I can’t get enough of these! (They are definitely not low in sugar, so keep that in mind if you’re concerned about sugar intake.)
Now let’s get into it!
Brown Butter Maple Pumpkin Lactation Cookies
Makes 36 cookies
For the cookies
1 c Unsalted butter
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/3 c pumpkin purée
1/2 cup brewers yeast
2 3/4 c -3 c flour (depending on how fthick you want your cookies to be)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
For the crumble topping
1/4 c softened salted butter
1 tablespoon pumpkin purée.
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325° and prepare your baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. (I use these reusable silicone baking mats)
Place your unsalted butter in a small sauce pan. Melt and cook over medium heat until the butter reaches a dark amber color. Set aside and a lot of cool for 15-20 minutes. You can also place in the refrigerator to cool, but make sure you check it often. You don’t want it to solidify.
In a medium size bowl, place the butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, maple syrup, and pumpkin purée. Mix until combined.
Add in your baking soda, baking powder, salt, and brewers yeast. Mix until combined.
Add in your flour, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
Mix on low for one minute or stir by hand for two minutes.
Topping Instructions
In a small bowl, add your softened butter and pumpkin purée. Mix until smoothly combined.
Add in your cinnamon, salt, and sugars. Then slowly incorporate the flour and oats. This “crumble” topping is not super crumbly, and you will have to use your hands to break it up when placing it on the cookies.
Scoop and drop your cookies onto your baking sheet. Use a spoon to smash them down to about a half an inch thickness.
Crumble some of your topping onto your cookies.
Bake at 325 for 12 to 14 minutes. Those last two minutes are especially important to making them nice and crispy on the outside and super soft on the inside. Watch them as they bake, you don’t want them to get too done on the outside as they will become hard instead of just crunchy.
Let them cool on a baking rack, plate, or countertop for 3 to 5 minutes after removing them from the oven
And Voilà! Enjoy your crispy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside buttery maple pumpkin lactation cookies!
Let me know if you make these and how they improve your breastmilk supply. Happy baking, and happy fall! 🍁
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