Cookies galore are thick and chewy with a French flair
OWNER OF FLEURS et Sel, Lara Adekoya.
By Nona Sue Friedman
For four years Lara Adekoya made about a hundred thousand cookies with one oven in her West Hollywood apartment. Nike, Apple, Netflix, and many more have indulged in the delicious creations from her bakery, Fleurs et Sel. In 2024, her small batch bakery moved from her home to a brick-and-mortar location at 5300 W. Adams Blvd. Adekoya’s year in Paris during high school influenced the French flair for her bakery. She wants to speak French daily at her shop.
It all started when she was furloughed from Nordstrom’s at the Grove at the start of the pandemic. As an almost $1 million high end shoe saleswoman, the USC undergraduate and UCLA post-doctoral graduate, she wanted to bring sweet joy to her community. Adekoya was craving cookies.
Growing up, Adekoya loved being in the kitchen. Her Japanese mom nurtured the family with food. She reached out to her mom in Seattle and asked for a recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip with coconut cookies, a family favorite. The recipe came across as “a little of this and a little of that” according to Adekoya. Lots of room for interpretation.
Adekoya baked the first batch of 18 cookies. She gave them away to her then boyfriend and other friends. She heard a lot of “Can I buy these?”
SOFT AND FRESH OUT of the oven are the bakery’s Sea Salt Chocolate Chip cookies.
And she just kept making cookies, more and more each day, and experimented with a different recipes and flavor profiles. She reached out to 50 of her very loyal Nordstrom customers, convinced Caruso Corp. to let her do a three day pop up in the glass cube at the Grove—which was very successful, and posted weekly Monday cookie drops on Instagram—which she still does six years later.
“I’m energized by my community. I want to give my customers the red-carpet treatment every time they come into the store. I want them to be wined and dined by my cookies. That’s why only two people are allowed in the shop at a time. I want to be known for service. I really believe service was lost in COVID,” said Adekoya. Spoken like someone many years her senior.
Her business model is as spontaneous as her cookie flavors. She makes one batch, sells them, next time she makes two batches. In addition to her very popular Sea Salt Chocolate Chip, her flavors run the gamut from Peanut Butter and Nutella Chocolate to Raspberry & Rose Thumbprint and anything in between.
Order in advance, stop by the shop, or find her next drop at fleursetsel.com.
Category: People
