Yesterday my beautiful friend had her third little cherub. A warming soup and some special biscuits are what I will take when I see her.

Based on my experiences as a new mum, is to focus on the mothers needs. For what it’s worth some advice about taking and making food for a new mummy (and her family, if it’s not her first baby)

• use take away containers, the last thing she needs to worry about is making sure she has looked after your containers
• make things she can freeze in case she is inundated with food or has things already prepared that need eating. Soup, bolognaise sauce, mild curry and casseroles are all good meals that only need reheating, or can be frozen for another day
• be prepared to leave the food in an esky bag with ice bricks in case she isn’t up for visitors and you are leaving the food at the door
• make the food with love- you are nourishing a tired mum, a new baby and possibly an overwhelmed family.

I promised my friend a blog post about the biscuits that provided easy sustenance during the early tiring days after having a baby- lactation cookies. So here it is, Mrs H.

Lactation cookies are not pretty (and I think they may need a different name as you don’t need to be breastfeeding to enjoy them), but they have the ingredients that are believed to improve breastmilk supply- brewers yeast and fenugreek. Too much of these ingredients will leave the taste unpalatable- you still need to enjoy them, and guests visiting and children asking for snacks also need to be able to eat them. If you aren’t breastfeeding these biscuits are still very nice without the fenugreek or brewers yeast. These I made for my friend to have on hand so I haven’t added nuts, but walnuts (or whichever you may have in your pantry) are a delicious addition. I baked half the quantity of dough and then rolled the remainder into a sausage shape, wrapped it in baking paper and placed it in the freezer. I will give the frozen dough as well so the new mummy can cut the frozen dough into discs and bake the biscuits as she needs them.

Here is my version of lactaion cookies.

Loving, easy food to enjoy, and share.

 

LACTATION COOKIES

40g linseed

80g water

2Tbsp brewers yeast

180g butter, cubed

200g dark brown sugar

1Tbsp vanilla paste

260g plain flour

1Tbsp fenugreek seeds

2 eggs

300g rolled oats

250g dark chocolate chips

100g nuts of your choice (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with baking paper

Place linseeds in to thermomix mixing bowl and mill 10sec/speed 10. This could be done in a spice blender or use pre-bought meal. Add water and blend for 5sec/speed 4. Put aside for use later

Place yeast, butter, sugar and vanilla in to thermomix bowl and mix for 20sec/speed 4. Continue until butter is well incorporated. If you don’t have a thermomix this step can be done with an electric mixer. Add this mixture in to a very large mixing bowl.

Add the oats, fenugreek, chocolate chips and nuts, if you’re using. It is a stiff, sticky dough that is best mixed by hand or a very strong spatula. 

Place balls of the mixture on the baking trays using two spoons or a small icecream scoop

Bake for 15 minutes

Once cooled keep in an airtight container and have with tea, coffee or at 2am when you’re peckish after giving your baby a breast feed