Lara Adekoya Transcript
Jessie Sheehan:
Hi, peeps. You're listening to She's My Cherry Pie, the baking podcast from The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Jessie Sheehan. I'm a baker, recipe developer, and the author of four baking books. Each Saturday, I'm hanging out with the sweetest bakers around and taking a deep dive into their signature bakes.
My guest today is Lara Adekoya, the founder and baker behind Fleurs et Set Bakery in Los Angeles. I met Lara last year when we had a baker's event for She's My Cherry Pie in L.A. She was such a delight to talk to and I knew I had to have her on the show. Lara started her cookie business as a pop-up during the pandemic, and she opened her first brick-and-mortar earlier this year. The name of her company is inspired by her time living in France and her two favorite things, flowers and salt, and she's become quite known in L.A. for her cookies. She joins me today to talk about her transition from working in stales to making cookies, her love for France, and we discuss her early dream to be a dentist and go to dental school. Who knew? Plus, she walks me through the recipe for her ginger molasses cookies. Chatting with Lara was such a treat and I know you'll enjoy learning more about her. Stay tuned for our chat.
Today's episode is presented by King Arthur Baking Company. Whether you're a serious baker or just a newbie, King Arthur is here to help you be the best baker you can be. Their flours are some of the most coveted in the industry, as you've heard from many of my guests. With the holiday season fast approaching, might I suggest tapping into King Arthur's host of resources to help you level up your baking game with ingredients and tools for every baking occasion. Over 2,000 recipes and virtual and on-demand classes, King Arthur will guide you every step of the way. Did you know they also have a baker's hotline where you can speak to a professional baker seven days a week? I mean, peeps, how cool is that? No matter your question or concern, King Arthur is here to help this holiday season and beyond. Head to kingarthurbaking.com to learn more and call 1-855-371-BAKE. That's 1-855-371-BAKE to try the hotline for yourself.
This episode is presented by Kerrygold. Let's talk for a minute about butter, which is truly one of life's simple pleasures. Beautiful butters, like those from Kerrygold, are as good as gold to me and all the butter lovers in my life. Kerrygold butter is the most special of them all. It's made from milk from Irish grass-fed cows and has a rich flavor and creamy texture thanks to its naturally higher butter fat percentage. This also gives Kerrygold butter that beautiful, natural, golden yellow color we all know and love. Think about how many simple, delicious moments involve butter, making grilled cheese for a loved one. I mean, I can hear the butter sizzling in the pan right now. Can't you? Slathering butter on an amazing scone or banana bread that you spent your Saturday morning baking, even just passing butter around a lively table when you get together with friends and family for a meal. There's a whole world of Kerrygold butters for you to discover and enjoy. Learn more at kerrygoldusa.com.
Are you looking for that perfect gift for a foodie friend? Check out Cherry Bombe's holiday gift guides, which are filled with delicious ideas and suggestions for nearest and dearest. There's something for everyone from the pastry pros and beginner bakers to the mixed masters and sporty spice lovers in your life. Or, if you have a loved one who wants to build their community and network within the world of food, beverage, and hospitality, consider gifting a Cherry Bombe membership. Members get special perks like access to our virtual monthly meetings, plus they get specially priced tickets to our annual Jubilee conference. That's happening Saturday, April 12th in New York City. To learn more about the membership program and to browse the gift guides, head to cherrybombe.com.
Let's chat with today's guest. Lara, so excited to have you on She's My Cherry Pie and to talk ginger molasses cookies with you and so much more.
Lara Adekoya:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. This is such a dream come true.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love finding out from guests about early baking or sweets eating moments and wondered if you could share your earliest memory or an early memory of something you baked or something you ate that was impactful.
Lara Adekoya:
Sure, so growing up I feel like I always had a sweet tooth. I also had a lot of cavities, but I think that speaks to my love of sweets. One of the earliest memories I have is my mom making oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies. We would spend some of our summers in Hawaii and she always would make them and she would always add coconut because she loves coconut, and I just remember her making them for us and just the taste of the butter and the sugar and the cream and the oatmeal. It just hit a certain note and I was like, "Wow, I love sweets and I love cookies."
Jessie Sheehan:
Your mom is Japanese and your dad is Nigerian and you learned baking from your mom.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Besides these incredible sounding oatmeal cookies with coconut in them, which I love, can you tell us about some of the things you baked with her or some of her specialties that kind of inspired you?
Lara Adekoya:
I come from a large family, I'm one of four kids, and my mom provided for us in the way that a mother does through food, so she nurtured us through her recipes. Not only baking, actually more cooking than baking. Baking was something she kind of just did on the side. She's not a baker, but my mom is an amazing cook, so from her I feel like I really learned the beauty and the value of nurturing others through food because that's how she shows us she loves us. She always has something in the fridge, always has something on the table. She loves to entertain like restaurant-grade culinary experience.
Jessie Sheehan:
Tell me about some of the things that she was cooking for you guys that-
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... if you remember.
Lara Adekoya:
My mom was born and raised in Japan, so we grew up eating a lot of Japanese food, chicken katsu curry, a lot of udon, yakisoba, onigiri, lots of flavor, lots of fresh ingredients. I guess another thing that's interesting about my mom is that she's the type of cook that's not following a recipe book. She doesn't have a recipe. She's just kind of freestyling and she has an amazing palate. If we go to a restaurant and she tries something, she'll be like, "Hmm, I think it has this, it has this," and then she'll go home and recreate it.
From her, I really loved this creativity of blending flavors or trying things or experimenting with maybe miso with this or coconut in that and just kind of being playful in the kitchen. She's definitely not like a precise measure-by-measure cook, so even when I called her early pandemic days asking for her oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, it was very much so, "Add this, and then I put cinnamon and I throw coconuts," versus like a two teaspoons of this and four teaspoons of that.
Jessie Sheehan:
Sounds like you were very much like a foodie family.
Lara Adekoya:
Totally.
Jessie Sheehan:
Were your siblings as into it as you were?
Lara Adekoya:
That's really interesting you ask. I mean, we definitely all have an appetite for sure, and earlier today, I was thinking about this. Some of my earliest memories, my grandpa would pick us up from school, so this is like middle school, elementary school. We'd go to his house.
Jessie Sheehan:
Was it your mom, dad?
Lara Adekoya:
My mom, dad.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Lara Adekoya:
Uh-huh, and I remember my sister would be watching TV, my brothers would be playing video games, and I was never into video games or TV. I was in the kitchen. I remember opening up Grandpa's pantry and fridge and freezer and there wasn't much. There was like Wonder Bread, pork rinds, Neapolitan ice cream, orange juice, and so I got creative. My earliest memories of really fussing around with no one around, no supervision, is taking ice cream, mixing it with orange juice, and there's ice cubes and then there's some bread, and just those are my earliest memories of being in the kitchen and just experimenting.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that so much.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, crazy, crazy.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that so much, but I also actually do love Neapolitan ice cream.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh, me too.
Jessie Sheehan:
Like-
Lara Adekoya:
It inspired one of my cookies.
Jessie Sheehan:
... oh my gosh. Exactly, which we will talk about.
Lara Adekoya:
Ooh.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. You famously lived in Paris when you were a teenager and you went to high school there, and I know that it was Paris or the French language that inspired the name of your bakery. Why did your family move there? Also were you kind of baking and cooking when you were in France and sort of taking advantage of ingredients or styles or being inspired by what was around you? Or was it more a time to go to school and not a baking and cooking time?
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, that's a great question. I was born and raised in Seattle. The school I attended, they had a year exchange program, so I convinced my parents to let me go live in France. I actually made a whole PowerPoint and convinced them that, "You should let me go study abroad in France," so they did. They let me, so I went abroad for the year. There was a program called School Year Abroad. We lived in Rennes, but also visited Paris and Lyon in the south and kind of went all over. I didn't do anything culinary baking while I was in France. It was totally just like high school.
However, when I was in France, I developed this huge appreciation for the specialty boulangeries and pâtisseries that I would see all over. On my walk back from school every day, I would infamously stop at a bakery and get a tarte aux framboises or get a mille-feuille or get a éclair café. There was just this little pleasure of this beautifully made pastry that was just sitting in the window or sitting in the bakery case and there was just this magic around it. Those are the memories that I have of when I lived in France, it was always going to the bakery on the way home, getting a fresh baguette on the way in, getting a warm pain au chocolat, and I just loved the beauty and the magic of a bakery, any of the bakeries in France, especially the small mom-and-pop ones.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love your French accent-
Lara Adekoya:
Thank you.
Jessie Sheehan:
... and I have to ask, do you speak French and Japanese and English?
Lara Adekoya:
I speak French, English, and a little Japanese. My mom is fluent, of course, but I know a couple of words, a couple of phrases here and there.
Jessie Sheehan:
If she speaks to you in Japanese, can you understand her?
Lara Adekoya:
For the most part.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh, that's amazing-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... but she didn't speak Japanese to you guys exclusively when you were-
Lara Adekoya:
No, it was more like if we were in the supermarket and did something bad, she would say it in Japanese to be polite or on the airplane, but yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh, I love that. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Today's episode is presented by California Prunes, the best kind of prunes out there. I am a big fan of California Prunes for two reasons. They're a great addition to your pantry when it comes to smart snacking and baking. You probably already know that prunes are good for your gut. You might even know that prunes are also good for your bone health, but what you really need to know is that prunes are absolutely delicious in both sweet and savory dishes, but don't just take it from me. Here's what some of the country's top culinary experts have to say. Chef Bronwen Wyatt of Bayou St. Cake says, "Prunes have an earthy, winey richness that pairs beautifully with the tart fresh flavor of berries." Chef Kat Turner, from Highly Likely in L.A., says, "They are an incredibly versatile ingredient that strike a great balance between sweet and savory. They're incredibly sensual." Anna Castro, from Akamaya in New Orleans, says, "Prunes have a sultriness to them. They are very rich and like velvet. I like to use prune puree in my baked goods to give them great flavor and also to replace some of the sugar, eggs, or fat in the recipe. It's super easy to whip up. Just blend prunes and water together and voila." For recipe ideas and more, be sure to check out the California Prunes website at californiaprunes.org. Happy baking and happy snacking.
This episode is presented by Ghirardelli, making life a bite better. We're in the heart of the holiday season right now, my favorite time of year. How happy are you? I know so many of you talented professional bakers out there are whipping up delicious cookies, cakes, brownies, bars, and other holiday confections. The only thing better than something baked during the holidays is something baked with chocolate. That's why I'm excited to tell you all about Ghirardelli's convenient five-pound bags of chocolate, which come in eight different varieties and are available at restaurant supply stores and online. I know we all go through a lot of chocolate this time of year, so these are perfect. Ghirardelli has milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips for adding into classic bakes, milk, and dark wafers for coating and drizzling, even dark chocolate barista chips you can sprinkle on desserts and drinks. All you professional bakers listening out there know that the best baked goodies are made from the highest quality ingredients. Did you know that Ghirardelli chocolate only uses top quality beans that are traceable right back to the farmers who grew them all around the world? They also only roast the heart of cacao bean called the nib instead of the whole bean to make sure their products have the most consistent, intense, chocolatey flavor possible, and they refine their chocolate to teeny tiny particles, 19 microns to be exact, which is what gives Ghirardelli chocolate its creamy, velvety texture. To learn more about Ghirardelli professional products and request samples, visit ghirardelli.com/professional, or you can find their products at kitchen supply stores like Chef Store, Webstaurant, and Amazon.
Peeps, have you heard about Cherry Bombe Jubilee? It's our annual conference for women in food, drink, and hospitality, and it's happening Saturday, April 12th, in New York City. I always love being at Jubilee and connecting with other bakers, pastry chefs, and cookbook authors. If you'd like to join us, you can snag early bird tickets at cherrybombe.com. They're on sale now until December 31st, so don't delay, and if you're an official Bombe Squad member, check your inbox for special member pricing. I hope to see you there. Now, back to our guest.
You ended up going to college in the United States, and you worked at Nordstrom's when you graduated. That job turned out to be crazy instrumental in building your cookie business, but I also learned that around that time you were also interested in going to dental school.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay, honey, I love this idea of a cookie baker pursuing dentistry, so please, please, before we talk about Nordstrom's, tell me about dental school.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes, I know. I have a crazy story. I'm glad we get to break it down for everyone.
Jessie Sheehan:
Me too, me too.
Lara Adekoya:
When I went to USC, I studied global health in French. Of course, I had to keep the French thing going, but I was really interested in healthcare and helping people and working around the world. I actually thought I was going to go work for the World Health Organization or the UN doing something in healthcare, but also French-speaking countries since the French language was such a huge part of my life. After I graduated from USC, I applied to a Master's in Public Health program at USC. Got admitted, but the summer in between going from graduating USC to grad school, I went home and I saw my dentist, Dr. Robinson. He was in my mouth and fussing around, and I always asked to hold the mirror up because I love to know what's going on.
When I told you when I was growing up I had a lot of cavities, so I spent a lot of time at the dentist. I remember talking to him about my plans, and he was like, "Why don't you consider dentistry? You're interested in healthcare. You're always curious about what's going on in the dental chair. Why don't you pursue dentistry?"
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that your dentist was like a mentor.
Lara Adekoya:
A total mentor.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
He's the bomb, total mentor, and such a great, great mentor and great, great guy. Dr. Robinson was like, "You should consider dental school. You should shadow me and maybe see where it goes." I spent most of the summer shadowing him, and then I decided to defer my USC and PH admission and pursue classes at UCLA towards dental school. Two years go by, I'm taking biochem and physic and ochem and all of the science classes thinking I want to be a dentist. Beyond the practice itself, Dr. Robinson, my dentist at home, he has a family practice where he sees my Mom, then he sees my little brother, then he sees my niece, and he has built his own community through this service that he's providing us for just like dental care and all of that.
Beyond just being a dentist, I was really excited about building a community and building a business around a skill set and a service that I could provide other people, which interestingly is now what I do as a baker with my own bake shop. Now, I'm serving cookies and building community that way versus being a dentist-
Jessie Sheehan:
And causing cavities.
Lara Adekoya:
... and causing lots of cavities.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. When you were at Nordstrom, is that when you applied to dental school?
Lara Adekoya:
Exactly, so after college, I had shadowed him and then I came back to L.A. and I was like, "Well, I need a nine-to-five while I'm taking classes at night," so I started working at Nordstrom at The Grove in designer shoes. I knew nothing about designer shoes. I love Nordstrom, I knew that, but I was never the type to work like a desk job. I tried that. It wasn't really for me, so working at Nordstrom worked out really well because I got to be an entrepreneur in my own right.
We worked in a hundred percent commission-driven environment. I had to hustle. I had to build relationships. I had to make customers, and I was selling them shoes with a price point of 595 to $2,000, so Gucci and Dior and Fendi. I excelled in that environment because I was able to build relationships, and the women that I was serving, many of them were entrepreneurs in their own right. Some were wives, some have their own businesses, but it was through those relationships that I built that I was able to be basically a million-dollar seller at Nordstrom working part-time while taking classes at UCLA towards dental school.
Jessie Sheehan:
Honey, you are amazing-
Lara Adekoya:
You're so sweet.
Jessie Sheehan:
... and all of those women had a huge impact on your future. The pandemic happens and you're let go by Nordstrom, as is everyone, and it was then that you first kind of created the Fleurs et Sel baking concept kind of pop-up company just directly out of your house.
Lara Adekoya:
Totally.
Jessie Sheehan:
The first cookie that you were making was a sea salt chocolate chip cookie. Had you been perfecting that recipe for like many years? Or were you just like, "Oh, I'm doing this thing, I need a chocolate chip cookie, I think I'll make one?"
Lara Adekoya:
A hundred percent, so I distinctly remember it was obviously COVID shut down. It was very early, so things were kind of shutting down. Some things were still open, and funny enough, I remember I was at home with my fiancé, well, then boyfriend, and my sister. I was craving a cookie and I was like, "I just need to go get one." I actually mapped to... I was living in West Hollywood and I mapped like cookies in L.A., and this bakery called Milk Jar Cookies popped up. I was like, "Great, let's go. Let's try it. Never been. Let's go get a cookie." I remember driving there and they were closed, and I was like, "What? They're closed?" Not that they shouldn't have been, but I was just craving a cookie, so I was like, "I'm just going to make one."
I ended up going to the store, getting brown sugar, white sugar, all of the things, and I just made a batch and they were delicious. My sister kept eating the dough. My fiancé or boyfriend at the time kept eating the cookies, and I was like, "Oh, dang, you guys like these." They were like, "You should make more," so then I made another batch and another batch. I called my mom for the oatmeal recipe and made those, and then when you make cookies, you're not just making two, three or four, you're making a dozen or 18. I ended up initially just giving them to my friends that lived in the neighborhood, rode our bikes, dropped them off.
Then, with the pandemic hitting and I had lost my job at Nordstrom, a lot of my Nordstrom customers were still kind of texting me some for shoes. They still wanted their shoes and others were like, "Hey, I heard Nordstrom let everyone go. Are you okay?" We had that relationship that went beyond the transaction and beyond the store. It was more of like a, "How are you?" It was more about that relationship that we had built, which in turn made those transactions not feel like transactions.
Some of them had texted me just trying to connect, and I was like, "No, I got let go from Nordstrom, but I am making cookies if you want to buy some. I kind of started a little business." All of them were like, "Sure, can you drop them off?" I was like, "Sure, how many do you want?" They were like, "A dozen," and I was like, "Great." "Send me an invoice." I was like, "I don't have that, but here's my Venmo," and that's how it started.
Jessie Sheehan:
When it was still just a pop-up, now it's a brick-and-mortar, but when Fleurs et Sel was still a pop-up, you've described your approach as digital first, which I wanted you to unpack a little bit for us, and you also mentioned sort of a lot of exciting brand partnerships came about that I was hoping you could name some names. Then, you also had something called The Weekly Cookie Drop.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Can you tell us about being digital first, about the brand partnerships, and about cookie drops?
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, those are great questions, so digital first, so that's kind of something that I took from Nordstrom. As a salesperson, you're kind of standing around on the floor hoping for that customer to walk in the door and spend a thousand dollars, but one thing that they encouraged us to do is to be digitally enabled. I was, without even having to call it that. I was on my cellphone. I had my customer's information with their approval, of course, and I was able to create an iPhone Photo Stream. I was able to text them photos. I was able to send them a link to check out and buy these Gucci shoes, so instead of waiting for that customer to walk in the door, find ways to meet the customer where they are, meaning be digitally enabled.
When I started my business, we were all at home. It was COVID, we got the masks on, stay-at-home orders, but I still found a way to be digitally enabled and, thus, connect with my customers, even if they were in Brentwood at their apartment or in Inglewood at their parents' house. It didn't matter because we had social media and Instagram and text and all of these ways to just connect through photography or videos and still find a way to intimately connect the customer to my products, so there's that. The Weekly Cookie Drops I started in 2020. It was very DIY in the beginning, meaning I didn't have a website when I first started, and I just did these Cookie Drops. I named them Cookie Drops where I would essentially drop or say, "I'm baking these four flavors this week. I'm making so many, I'm going to post the inventory online."
At first it was, "Send me a DM to order," which was crazy because my DMs were flooded, and that was very unorganized and I was disappointing people left and right. Anyways, I ended up getting a website, much easier, more streamlined, but these Drops is literally just how I started creating a little bit of buzz about the product, letting customers know that it was just me baking, so there was a limited amount available per week, limited flavors due to ingredients. I was only able to budget for so many ingredients at once. I was very much paycheck to paycheck. I had no income because I had been furloughed, so just kind of using the money I had saved up, which wasn't much to pour into ingredients to make some cookies, to make some money, to go back to Smart & Final, to buy more ingredients from Trader Joe's. That's how the cycle started.
You mentioned brand partnership, so I started the business in April 2020. I was hustling all summer, May, June, July. There was George Floyd and all of these social movements happening, and I just was trying to stay afloat despite all of the negative things going on in the world. Interscope Records was my first brand partnership, if you will, my first corporate order. They reached out in August of 2020. While they were in office, they did something called Monday Munchies where I guess they would order bagels or cookies or anything for the office on Mondays. They reached out and they said, "Well, we're not in office, but we were hoping you could help us with Monday Munchies and send cookies all over the U.S. to our staff and our team and our colleagues, et cetera."
At the time, I had only been making max maybe a hundred or 200, maybe 300 cookies a week, maybe. I had like a small six-quart mixer, and that baby was working, working overtime. When they reached out about this order, I think it was for maybe like 800 to a thousand cookies. I remember calling my dad and my mom. I was like, "What do I do? What do I do?" I was like, "I can't say no," so I just took it as an opportunity to rise to the occasion. I was transparent, communicative. Again, all things I learned at Nordstrom, and I just said, "Hey, I would love to fill the order. I cannot produce a thousand cookies a day. Are we able to break it up over the course of a week?" They were like, "Sure, that's even better." I was like, "Great."
We broke it down to like maybe 200 a day, which I was able to do while keeping the quality up, while running back to the store, shuffling 12 cookies at a time in and out of the oven. That one partnership led to Oprah's network, led to Disney, led to HBO, led to Delta Airlines, led to Comcast and Netflix and Hulu. I'm just so grateful because had I not risen to that occasion and put my best foot forward and my best efforts, then I don't think any of these other partnerships would have come.
Jessie Sheehan:
Well, that's amazing.
Lara Adekoya:
Thank you.
Jessie Sheehan:
The bakery, you now have a brick-and-mortar. You opened it in March of 2024.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes, so Fleurs et Sel is the name of my bakery. Fleurs in French means flour and Sel means salt. It's named after my two favorite things, which are flowers and salt, but as you all know, Fleurs de Sel is sea salt, so it's like a play on words of sea salt, which I put on most of my cookies, and then my favorite things, which are flowers and salt.
Jessie Sheehan:
You still are doing Cookie Drops and still having online ordering. Tell us why that's still happening with the brick-and-mortar.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes, so the challenge that I feel like many businesses faced during the pandemic was going from brick-and-mortar to online. "How can we get people to order our stuff online when they're used to coming in person?" I did the total opposite where I went from this crazy digital booming online business to now having a physical space, and I think a lot of the integrity of my brand is still in the Cookie Drops, still in the... not even scarcity, but just in that it was a movement I feel like I created. It's like in our brand DNA. Yes, it's great to sell out, but at the same time, at this point in my life, I want to be able to feed and nourish and nurture as many people as I can. I don't like selling out. That means I didn't make enough product, so yes, the Cookie Drops are still very much a thing.
It's now kind of transitioned into more of like a pre-order, which is great because it encourages people who have a busier schedule. They can still pre-order their favorite flavors and know that it's at the bakery waiting for them before 5:00 when I close. It's worked really well because it's allowed me to have not only different streams of income, but different ways to meet people where they want to be met. If you prefer to order online, this is how you can do it. If you want to walk in the bakery, I'm here smiling with a thousand cookies in front of me. If you want to pre-order for your office or your corporate event or your wedding, let's handle it through our partnerships portal and meet your requests and meet your needs. I'm just trying to be flexible and know what I can handle, but also meet the customers where they want to be met also.
Jessie Sheehan:
I assume you have employees now.
Lara Adekoya:
I have a couple.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay, yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
I have a few.
Jessie Sheehan:
I was just going to say, "I", I was like, "Oh no."
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, that-
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Lara Adekoya:
... part.
Jessie Sheehan:
All right, so the recipe, I saw online, you call them the Crystallized Ginger-Molasses Cookies, which I love. They're soft. They're full of warm spices, balanced with ginger. Perfect for the holidays. Are they on the menu all the time?
Lara Adekoya:
You know what? It started as a seasonal offering, but they're so good that I'm had them in February. They're such almost a staple now that I don't... It's too good of a cookie to limit it to only October through December.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love you. I love you, and is the recipe from like the pop-up days? Or is it new to the store?
Lara Adekoya:
Same from the pop-up days.
Jessie Sheehan:
Love. Are all of the cookies based on a formula? This cookie calls for melted butter. Do they call call for melted butter?
Lara Adekoya:
Totally different. I mean, there's like a genre of them that are similar, so chocolate chip is similar to vanilla bean. No chocolate which is similar to snickerdoodle. Add a few more things, but then some of them like the ginger, the oatmeal, the Funfetti, some of them are different, so some use cream, some melted, some room temp. Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Love it. Okay, so first things first. We're going to preheat our oven to 375 degrees, and I wondered, is that convection or conventional?
Lara Adekoya:
That's a good question, so when I first started, I was using my at-home oven and I was actually baking the cookies at like 400 degrees. It wasn't the best oven, but she worked hard for me-
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
... so I would say with an at-home oven, like a 375 to 400-
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
... works and has worked because I've done it both.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
I think my original oven was just tired.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep, but now if you're doing convection, it's 350?
Lara Adekoya:
Now at my bakery, it's 350.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love the idea of baking cookies at this higher heat.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, I think it does some magical things with crisping it on the outside, but keeping the inside soft.
Lara Adekoya:
Soft and delicate.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, so we're going to combine brown sugar. Is that light or dark brown?
Lara Adekoya:
I like light brown.
Jessie Sheehan:
Light brown. We're going to combine light brown sugar and one cup of melted butter.
Lara Adekoya:
Mm-hmm.
Jessie Sheehan:
Is it unsalted butter?
Lara Adekoya:
I use unsalted butter.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay, so we have our light brown sugar, we have our unsalted butter, and on slow speed, we're going to mix in a stand mixer until it looks kind of like wet sand.
Lara Adekoya:
Yep.
Jessie Sheehan:
Then, we're going to add some eggs. Are our eggs room temperature?
Lara Adekoya:
I like room temperature. I feel like they mix better.
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
In a pinch, if I have to take an egg out of the fridge, I will, but I totally prefer room temp eggs, large room temp eggs.
Jessie Sheehan:
We're going to add some large room temp eggs. We're going to add a scraped vanilla bean. Is there a brand of vanilla bean that you like?
Lara Adekoya:
No rhyme or reason. I just get like Madagascar. I take the pod, slice it with a knife, and then scrape the bean pods or the vanilla beans right out and pour it right into the mixture.
Jessie Sheehan:
You add the eggs, the scraped vanilla bean, plus a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Is there a brand for the extract?
Lara Adekoya:
I like Nielsen-Massey.
Jessie Sheehan:
I wondered, "Why both? Why do we want a vanilla bean plus the extract?"
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, I feel like they both bring a different dimension. I mean, the vanilla extract obviously has like a little alcohol in it, so you get that, but I just like the, well, one, the look of the vanilla bean, and then two, I think it just brings a different dimension than just straight-up vanilla extract.
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
Nielsen-Massey also has a vanilla bean paste, which I've used in a pinch, but it is a little syrupy. There's already going to be molasses, so then it becomes a little too syrupy, but you could use that in a pinch, but I just like to scrape the vanilla bean pod.
Jessie Sheehan:
Love.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
This is the moment where the eggs, the vanilla are going to be mixed on their own in a small cup with-
Lara Adekoya:
It's like a-
Jessie Sheehan:
... a whisk or a fork.
Lara Adekoya:
... yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jessie Sheehan:
Whisk that until you kind of broken down the eggs, and then you add that mixture into the stand mixer on low speed.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Tell us why you like to do it that way.
Lara Adekoya:
You know, it's just what works for me. I mean, I think it's partly, one, I don't have like a scientific super culinary background where someone might say, "Never do that," or, "That's the thing to do." Out of convenience and ease, especially when I was just kind of starting out, I would have one thing going and then it's like, "Oh, I need the eggs." Then, it just naturally would be in a side bowl, and so that's kind of what I did and that's the rhythm I created when I bake. I do that with all my recipes. I do like the eggs and the vanilla or vanilla beans in one little bowl on the side, whisk it or use a fork, either way, and then I just verse it into like the wet sand mixture.
Jessie Sheehan:
And are we looking for eggs that are completely blended?
Lara Adekoya:
Just enough to get like the vanilla bean and like the vanilla pretty.
Jessie Sheehan:
Like breaking the yolk and-
Lara Adekoya:
Just breaking the yolk.
Jessie Sheehan:
... combine the yolk and the white so it's pretty really-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, not quite whipping it, but-
Jessie Sheehan:
... okay.
Lara Adekoya:
... but mixing it so it's fluid.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay, great.
Lara Adekoya:
You wouldn't whip it, but mixing it till it's just well-mixed, and then I verse it into the wet sand-looking-
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
... brown sugar.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, I love your honesty about how the choices you made-
Lara Adekoya:
Totally.
Jessie Sheehan:
... are sort of based on what you needed to do in the moment, but that's so great.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
That's so great. I love that. We add the eggs and the vanilla. Once that's combined, we're going to add the molasses. Is there a brand of molasses?
Lara Adekoya:
Yes. I'm kind of picky about my molasses. I like the Blackstrap Organic.
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
I get it from Whole Foods, but that's the one that I like.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Lara Adekoya:
It's really dark, not too sweet, actually.
Jessie Sheehan:
We add the molasses, then we are going to add the all-purpose flour, some sea salt. Do you ever use kosher? Or it's always sea salt?
Lara Adekoya:
I usually just sea salt, like Maldon Sea Salt.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep. Oh, so it's flaky sea salt-
Lara Adekoya:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
... like Maldon?
Lara Adekoya:
Uh-huh.
Jessie Sheehan:
Ooh-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... so we're going to add all-purpose flour, Maldon Sea Salt, baking powder and baking soda. Can you tell us why both?
Lara Adekoya:
I found that, well, not in every recipe, but this recipe, I think both work and I add equal parts of both. I can't really tell you what it does, but some of my other recipes, I'll use cornstarch, I'll use, I don't know, like a different leavening ingredient, but this one, maybe it's because of the molasses and the liquid. I don't know, it just binds the cookie to be. I also add a little bit more flour sometimes-
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
... because I find the molasses makes the dough super sticky and just so I can get the shape and shape the cookies how I want them without them being too flat. I'll add a little bit more flour at the end if I find the dough mixture to be a little bit runny.
Jessie Sheehan:
Then, we also are going to add some spices at this point like ginger and allspice and cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Is there a brand of spices that you're fond of?
Lara Adekoya:
No, not particularly. I mean, again, this was like COVID when I was developing these recipes, so it's really what I had at the time. I was getting my spices from like Ralph's or Gelson's or Whole Foods.
Jessie Sheehan:
Now, we're going to chill the dough for like 30 minutes to an hour. Do you ever rest the dough overnight?
Lara Adekoya:
I have. I don't find that it makes a huge difference, to be honest. If I'm making big batches and I'm baking in volume, then of course sometimes I'll have to rest it overnight or I'll make a bigger batch and then chill half and bake half. With this, I find flavor-wise I don't see a huge difference if it's chilled for 30 minutes to an hour versus overnight.
Jessie Sheehan:
Do you do this with all the cookies just 30 minutes to an hour? Or do some of them get overnight rest?
Lara Adekoya:
Some of them get overnight rest, and some of them I just make and bake. Like-
Jessie Sheehan:
Ooh.
Lara Adekoya:
... the peanut butter, you just make it and bake it, the lemon, make and bake it, but this one, just because the dough is so sticky, 30 minutes to an hour just kind of helps chill the dough. It kind of solidifies a bit, so then it's easier to shape, and then it keeps the shape while it bakes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Right, so now we're going to roll by hand into like two tablespoon balls, but maybe at the bakery you're making larger than that. Yeah-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... so you can do like a quarter cup if you want a really massive cookie. Do you use a portion scoop? Do you use cookie scoop?
Lara Adekoya:
I have used cookie scoops, but I usually just weigh them using a scale. That helps keep them relatively in the same family because I have a heavy hand and sometimes the cookies come out very large. I think I'm just generous. I'm like, " It could use a little bit more dough."
Jessie Sheehan:
Right, right, right.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, I try to use a scale so I can measure out the cookies in grams, and that way they're consistent.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. We now are going to smooth the balls in our hand. Do you want the dough on the outside to be smooth?
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, I want it to be totally smooth, and then I take a bowl of just cane sugar and I just roll it. Not too, well, pretty generous, so I do a nice dip and a twist and a roll, so it's pretty fully covered, and then I'll place them on the baking sheet.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yes, and should we picture a baking sheet with like... You can't put 12 cookies on a baking sheet-
Lara Adekoya:
No, I-
Jessie Sheehan:
... because they would spread too much, right?
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, I usually do eight-
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Lara Adekoya:
... three, two, and three. If I'm not in a rush, I like to do six so the cookies can really just kind of do their thing.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep, and you don't have to be nervous.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, but my nightmare is 12 cookies on a tray.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, unless you have like a massive baking sheet.
Lara Adekoya:
It's my nightmare.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, so-
Jessie Sheehan:
... I feel you. I feel you. We have the cookies on our baking sheet. We're going to bake them for like 13 to 14 minutes until our edges are crispy and the cookies have spread. Do you rotate the pans halfway through?
Lara Adekoya:
I do-
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
... when I can. I think it's the best practice.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
I mean, again, if I'm baking in volume and I'm in a pinch and I have three ovens going, no, but when I'm at home and we're just focusing on this perfect batch, totally rotate halfway. I like to bake on the middle rack, not the top, not the bottom.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
Right in the middle.
Jessie Sheehan:
Totally. I know we'll give the pan a gentle bang on the counter to deflate the cookies just a bit, and you know what I do? I press them very lightly with like a spatula you would flip an egg with, not like a fish spatula-
Lara Adekoya:
Oh, we flip it.
Jessie Sheehan:
... that has spaces, but I'll just very gently press with a spatula. Kind of the same idea.
Lara Adekoya:
Totally, just to kind of let them just settle and relax.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, and then you say that we need to serve these at room temp, but can I please have one warm?
Lara Adekoya:
This is the biggest back and forth I get. I think I am the exception to the rule because I like a room temp cookie.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
When the cookies come out of the oven, I mean, first off, these smell amazing. It smells like Christmas, holiday. You're getting ginger, you're getting spice. You smell the clove. You get all of the senses are stimulated. However, I need that cookie to just rest and just chill for a little bit.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
I don't like them... I mean, maybe like a chocolate chip, but this one, I feel like the integrity of the cookie when it's crispy on the outside and then the inside is moist, you really get that contrast and texture. I think that's the beauty of the... yeah, paired with the spices. Sometimes I think when a cookie's warm, you're just so overwhelmed by the melted chocolate that you're like, "Oh, it's amazing," but you're not really getting much texture.
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
You're just getting chocolate, which is delicious, but you're not really getting the cookie.
Jessie Sheehan:
I get you.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, and this cookie is so good that I want you to just enjoy the cookie, not the hot sensation, just the-
Jessie Sheehan:
I love it. I love it, and I had a question. Because of the shape of the cookie, is the idea that the bottom is the crispy part and then the top part is a little bit less baked because it is more of a ball as it were?
Lara Adekoya:
Yes, so I like that, and this is when I know my cookies are done, right?
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
Well, obviously 13, 14 minutes, every oven's different, but the base is crispy, not crispy, but it's cooked.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
Then, just like the slightest bit of the perimeter kind of becomes golden or you can tell it's been a little bit cooked or well done, I guess. The top and the center of the cookie does remain doughy just because of the volume of the shape. Then, when you bang it, obviously it deflates just a little bit, so you still get a little crisp, especially with the sugar-
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Lara Adekoya:
... on the outside, and I think the sugar really helps with that, crystallize it and just kind of harden it a little bit. I've baked these without sugar and they don't come out just as crispy on the outside, so not only for like the glittery shimmer and the crystallized look that the sugar brings, I think it also helps kind of crisp the outside that otherwise would be super soft. I think the combo of the sugar on the outside and rolling the cookies in the sugar, the bake time, and then I also take a mini spatula just when they come out of the oven, I bang them and then I just kind of... the sides to-
Jessie Sheehan:
Kind of pushing the sides.
Lara Adekoya:
... push the sides in a little bit.
Jessie Sheehan:
Do you do that for every cookie that you... Wow-
Lara Adekoya:
Every cookie.
Jessie Sheehan:
... so just moving, and I always find that when I'm trying to get the perfect round cookie, sometimes you know how that trick where you take like a biscuit-
Lara Adekoya:
With the-
Jessie Sheehan:
... cutter, but I always find that what's hard about all of that is that you have to work quickly.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
When you're doing huge volume, how do you get your little spatula around-
Lara Adekoya:
I'm-
Jessie Sheehan:
... each one? You're moving so fast.
Lara Adekoya:
... I'm moving quickly, one. Well, my bakery is small in the back.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
I'm usually the only one baking, so I'm the only one shuffling cookies in and out because two people, it's kind of like, "Excuse me, excuse me," because I have a hot pan in my left hand and then the right hand with a spatula. Truly, the doors of the oven are open. I take one out with my left hand and then my right hand, I'm just touching it up, shoving it in the-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh, so you do it midway through the bake?
Lara Adekoya:
I do it at the end-
Jessie Sheehan:
At the end?
Lara Adekoya:
... but it's like timer goes and it's like you got to work.
Jessie Sheehan:
You have to move fast. What kind of spatula should we picture?
Lara Adekoya:
I just have a mini spatula. I actually got it from Target.
Jessie Sheehan:
Like a mini flexible one?
Lara Adekoya:
Mini flexible, has like a gold handle and the just like a mini... I love, it's my favorite baking tool, mini spatula.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. No, I love a mini spatula, too.
Lara Adekoya:
Love it.
Jessie Sheehan:
I'm fascinated by the shape. So interesting. It really is your signature.
Lara Adekoya:
Thank you.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, so I wanted to talk about a couple of additional recipes. The first one is Yaya's Golden Funfetti Birthday Cake Cookies.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay, tell me everything Yaya, and then also this cookie has Golden Oreos?
Lara Adekoya:
Oh my God, this is so fun.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh, tell me everything.
Lara Adekoya:
Yes. Okay, so Yaya is my nickname-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh.
Lara Adekoya:
... and it is, I know not many people know that. That's a fun fact-
Jessie Sheehan:
A sibling had trouble saying Lara?
Lara Adekoya:
... yeah, a hundred percent.
Jessie Sheehan:
Aw.
Lara Adekoya:
100%.
Jessie Sheehan:
So cute.
Lara Adekoya:
My brothers could not get the la in Lara at all, so Yaya was my nickname and it still is. Oh, it's so cute. I started the business April 2020. My birthday's in June, and also it's Pride Month and rainbows, and I was like, "Okay, I think it's time for my birthday cookie to come out," and my birthday's the 21st, so I named it after myself. It has white chocolate, it has rainbow sprinkles, of course, but I put Golden Oreos because Golden Oreos are my favorite cookie. We're talking grocery store cookie. It is my favorite. I eat the whole pack.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh, honey, I love you.
Lara Adekoya:
I love-
Jessie Sheehan:
I have never met a Golden Oreo lover.
Lara Adekoya:
... exception into the rule. I love Golden-
Jessie Sheehan:
I mean, I love Oreos, but I'm not a Golden girl. I need-
Lara Adekoya:
I'm a-
Jessie Sheehan:
... the chocolate.
Lara Adekoya:
I'm a Golden Oreo-
Jessie Sheehan:
Honey-
Lara Adekoya:
... fiend.
Jessie Sheehan:
... the Golden Oreos are there because you love them.
Lara Adekoya:
They're just there because I love them.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love-
Lara Adekoya:
I just love them.
Jessie Sheehan:
... because I thought it was a genius way of getting like a cakey... Even though a Golden Oreo is a cookie-
Lara Adekoya:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
... I don't know, I'm getting cake vibes from like-
Lara Adekoya:
I am, too.
Jessie Sheehan:
... Golden, like a vanilla cake situation.
Lara Adekoya:
A hundred percent.
Jessie Sheehan:
I thought that was its inclusion. I love that.
Lara Adekoya:
It just works really well. I think I was looking to accomplish a birthday cake vibe in the cookie, and it needed an extra oomph. I just was like, "Well, I have this pack of Golden Oreos that I'm snacking on."
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep.
Lara Adekoya:
I just crumbled them and burst them in the bowl, and not only do they add great texture and color, but they do add to the cakey birthday cake feel of the cookie.
Jessie Sheehan:
Should we picture you grinding them? Or they're still... Is it just-
Lara Adekoya:
They're still intact, I just kind of like-
Jessie Sheehan:
... they're just crushed in your hand?
Lara Adekoya:
... crushed in my hand.
Jessie Sheehan:
... but not like, "Oh, they need to be these tiny little pieces."
Lara Adekoya:
No, no, no. That would actually dry out the dough too much-
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
... I think.
Jessie Sheehan:
Now when you bite into it, do you get like a bite of Oreo?
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah, you're getting like-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my-
Lara Adekoya:
... a bite of Oreo-
Jessie Sheehan:
... gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
... white chocolate. You're seeing the colorful non-pareil sprinkles. It's delicious. That's why I named it after myself.
Jessie Sheehan:
I know. Yeah, you're like, "Hello, Yaya needs this."
Lara Adekoya:
Hello.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah, so good.
Jessie Sheehan:
All right, tell me about caramelized butter pecan-
Lara Adekoya:
Ooh.
Jessie Sheehan:
... and should I picture like a pecan sandy? Is there a sandy vibe?
Lara Adekoya:
Little bit of a sandy vibe, so I basically take my vanilla bean sugar-based dough, put a little bit... I put vanilla beans in everything. I put a little vanilla bean in that, too. Then, I'm taking coarsely chopped pecans. I just have a huge wok actually at the shop. I just take regular unsalted butter. I pour a little bit of sugar, a little bit of cinnamon, and then I'm just kind of walking and toasting the pecans on the loft.
Jessie Sheehan:
Ooh, so they literally are butter pecans-
Lara Adekoya:
They-
Jessie Sheehan:
... because you cooked them in butter.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah, and then, okay, I have to admit, not that I'm eating my cookie dough 24/7, however, the caramelized butter pecan dough, unreal. The cookie's great, but the dough, and I think it's because of the extra butter-
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
... with the nuts, so then when you burst it into the cookie dough, the cookie dough becomes like buttery brown sugar, a little sticky. It's delicious.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
It's delicious. It's delicious. It's delicious.
Jessie Sheehan:
That sounds incredible. I have a question. How did you know to pull out your wok and start mixing up pecans with butter?
Lara Adekoya:
Just my mom.
Jessie Sheehan:
Aah.
Lara Adekoya:
That mentality of like, "We need to caramelize this." Even growing up, my mom would get like roasted chestnuts on the street or candied pecans on the street, so I always new candied walnuts and pecans, I'm like, "My dad loves nuts," so it just was a second nature thing.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Lara Adekoya:
My dad also would order the Butter Pecan Ice Cream at Baskin and Robbins-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh no.
Lara Adekoya:
in Seattle. And Jamoca Almond Fudge and-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
... we were a big sweets family-
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh. Can I just say that my favorite flavor, because I grew up with Baskin-Robbins-
Lara Adekoya:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... so their Mint Chocolate Chip.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh.
Lara Adekoya:
My brother's favorite. He would every time.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh. Me too.
Lara Adekoya:
Every time.
Jessie Sheehan:
Me too. It's so good. Now, tell us about a recipe inspired by your grandfather's freezer, your Neapolitan.
Lara Adekoya:
Ooh, yes, so like I mentioned earlier, I mean, those are my earliest memories. I would crack open Grandpa's fridge and there was a huge tub of store brand Neapolitan Ice Cream, but at the time, I didn't really care for the strawberry part. Always loved chocolate. I liked vanilla, but the strawberry I was just not really a fan of, but now strawberries are my favorite ice cream and one of my favorite flavors in the world. As I was developing recipes and wanting to draw from my childhood, I was like, "What flavor can I make?" I thought about my Grandpa and those early memories, so I decided to try a Neapolitan cookie.
Similar to like the Funfetti cookie, I just split the dough in three, and then I took strawberries and marbled it with one. Then, I took like Dutch pressed cocoa powder and marbled with the other dough. Then, some vanilla powder for the vanilla, and I just kind of split the three doughs and then marbled then between my hands. Not only are they beautiful, but you really get like the three distinct flavors, and then depending on how you shape them, you can also get three flavors in one bite. It really tastes like the ice cream that I love now, but yeah, as a child I was like, "Grandpa, what is this?"
Jessie Sheehan:
Is the strawberry you're using like fresh strawberries?
Lara Adekoya:
I use fresh strawberries. Yeah, so I don't have the cookie too often because I like to get fresh ingredients and stuff, though when I do make it, it's a star.
Jessie Sheehan:
Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today, Lara, and I just want to say that you are my cherry pie.
Lara Adekoya:
Oh, thank you so much. I never thought I'd hear those words.
Jessie Sheehan:
That's it for today's show. Thank you to King Arthur Baking Company, Kerrygold, California Prunes, and Ghirardelli for supporting this episode. Don't forget to follow She's My Cherry Pie on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and tell your pals about us. She's My Cherry Pie is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Our producers are Kerry Diamond, Catherine Baker, and Jenna Sadhu. Thank you so much for listening to She's My Cherry Pie and happy baking.