This post will involve chests.
But it will also contain biscuits - or cookies, if you will.
You've been warned.




Anyway, as my chesticles are no longer simply living rent-free in my jumper and are finally earning their keep in my new role as a Yummy Mummy, I find myself having to keep up enough supply to satisfy my little porker of a son. Up until now, I had been relying on obscene quantities of chocolate biscuit cake, but I thought I ought to do something a little less decadent to maintain production. In other countries, particularly the US, one would turn to a pill or tablet of some form with a very scary name - domperidone or motillium, an antidopaminergic drug (no idea what that means, just copied it from Wikipedia to look smart) - but here in Germany you are prescribed a tea.

Thus, I went off to our local herb store with a note from my midwife in my grubby little paw:


and picked up a bag of stuff that looks like it came straight from a café in Amsterdam:


It contains majoram, dill, black cumin and boxthorn. It tastes ... virtuous (= disgusting but good for you.)

So I decided to make lactation cookies. Now, if there were ever a name to put you off a foodstuff, then it's 'lactation cookies', but the idea is that these cookies contain galactagogues (substances to increase milk supply). I found some recipes on the internet but they were revoltingly sweet, so I twiddled a bit and came up with the one below. These cookies are very delish, and if you are not currently lactating (and do not desire to do so) never fear: they will not suddenly make you leak dairy. However, they are healthy - oh, who are we fooling? They take a nod in the direction of healthy - and would make a nice present for a new mother.

You need:

• 2 large (tablespoons) flax seed, preferably milled
• 3-4 large (tablespoons) water

Put the flax in a small bowl, cover it with water and let it soak and swell.

Cream

• 225g butter
• 200g brown sugar (I use even less sugar and more cinnamon for the taste.)
  

Add

• 2 eggs

Sift in

• 200g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• some cinnamon and ginger to taste

Mix in

• 2-3 large (tablespoons) Brewer's Yeast
• Approx. 150g - 200g oats (not oatmeal!)

and

• 150g dark chocolate chips (we're not martyrs, after all)

Drop in small balls on a cookie sheet, bake for about 12-14 mins at 375°F / 180°C, till they're reached the desired brown-ness (I like them golden, my husband likes them dark.)

A note about the ingredients:

• I love ginger, but be careful - it's apparently not the thing to eat if you've had stitches or other wounds, as it's a blood thinner.
• Brewer's Yeast can be both at a healthfood store. It tastes kind of salty but it's the thing that gets your ... um, juices going ... and you can't taste it in the finished cookie.
• Oats are filling (and breastfeeding mothers are often in a state of constant starvation), contain lots of iron and work wonders on the ol' digestive system. Need I say more?
• (Milled) flax seed - according to the Internet, unmilled flax seed just runs right through you, barely stopping to take photos. I use unmilled flax seed, I just use a bit more and ... here's the secret, Internet bakers ... I chew my cookies! Uh-huh! Unmilled flax seed makes the cookies nice and crunchy. But milled flax seed is good, too, honest. Just use what you can find.

Disclaimer: every time I make these cookies, they're delicious. But every time I make them, they're slightly different. I don't know how I manage it, but I do. And don't be tempted to use milk chocolate, even if you - like me - don't ordinarily like white chocolate. White chocolate is a must, not an option!

Blend:
160g butter, melted
250g brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

Mix and add:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
280g flour

Add:
50g oats
150g white chocolate chips (or white chocolate chopped into small cubes)
150g coarsely chopped cranberries - I use dried cranberries. You can buy them in the supermarkets with the other dried fruit, e.g. raisins and sultanas

Line an oven tray with baking paper.Place little rounded heaps of batter (no more than a dessert-spoonful) on the prepared tray, about 5 cm/2 inches apart. Bake cookies, one tray at a time in a moderate oven, for about 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

My sunshine Babette is nearly finished - I just need one more skein of yarn. Naturally, it's the very colour that has been temporarily discontinued and is now on back order... of course it is. Anyway, with just one panel to go, the blanket is very nearly complete.



Impatient with the outrageous tardiness of my LYS' supplier, I decided to start something else. Because we've had a fresh fall of snow - yes, it has snowed again (pause for screaming) - I decided to come up with a nice, wee hat. So I rummaged in my sock yarn and found this one:



Three hours later, it has become this:



The hat is now finished, ends woven in and buttons sewn on - and quite fetching it is, too, if I may say so myself. Pictures and pattern will follow in the next few days!

And just because you're such nice readers, I'm going to give you another gratuitous foodie picture - cookies (cranberry and white chocolate, hot out of the oven. Yum yum!)