Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Lactation Cookies

I've been searching for a good tasting and not-so-terrible-for-you lactation cookie. They all are oatmeal based with some nut or chocolate variant, and I found that boring. Once I realized what ingredients made them "lactation cookies," I decided to venture into a broader cookie world. I've become obsessed with the Skinnytaste site. I noticed they had a Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Pecan Cookie recipe that looked interesting. So with some tweaking, I made some Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Lactation Cookies that were pretty good.

Here is the recipe I used:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats (not quick)
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp brewer's yeast
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp flaxseed meal
• 3 tbsp water
• 6 tbsp canned pumpkin (one small can made 3 batches)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup nuts are optional

Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. The parchment paper makes it so much easier to remove the hot cookies without smooshing them into gross little balls.

Soak the flaxseed meal in the water for a minimum of 2 minutes.

Whisk together in a bowl the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brewer's yeast, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

Use your mixer to mix together the butter and sugar. Then add the flaxmeal mixture, pumpkin and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients on a slow/stir speed or by hand. If using nuts, spoon them in after the mixture is combined.

Drop a tablespoon worth of batter onto the parchment paper and cook for 12-14 minutes. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

I was eating 2 cookies after each pumping session and noticed an increase in the next pumping session. I hope they help, and if not, I hope you enjoy them anyway!

I prefer to eat them warm, so I'll throw a couple in the microwave for 10 or so seconds to warm them up, and they're just as light and fluffy as when they came out of the oven!

*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, I used this recipe to give me some substitutions for these cookies. Instead of 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, I used, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon (in addition to the cinnamon already in the dry ingredients), and a 1/4 tsp allspice.