Sweet Botanical Bakes
Photos by Adam DeTour
Sweet Botanical Bakes cookies are indeed both sweet and botanical, but the descriptive name hints at something more. Owner Lauren Berry elevates her cheerfully elegant and creatively flavored delicious shortbread cookies with balanced, often unexpected ingredient combinations that nod to her interests in both taste and florals. They are, she notes, “a flavor journey.”
During the pandemic, the former clinical psychologist and avid flower grower began baking bread and sending it to local people who she admired but didn’t know. A love of butter soon led Berry to develop a recipe for (and begin similarly sending) shortbread cookies, some decorated with her homegrown, pressed edible flowers. Their popularity inspired her to begin the business. She created a website in time to apply for the 2021 SoWa Winter Market, was accepted and began selling three varieties, including her popular flower-topped Garden Party.
During her first year in business, Berry mixed her dough in a KitchenAid Pro mixer, rolled it out with a big rolling pin and then hand-stamped it into shapes. The next year she invested in a much larger Hobart mixer. A year later she bought a tabletop sheeter, enabling her to flatten dough batches into uniform thicknesses. To this day she hand-stamps and hand-decorates all her cookies. Pressed flowers, when used, are carefully chosen from her giant, color-divided file boxes, color mapped and placed on top. Handwritten notes are included in mailed gift boxes.
Berry emphasizes that a love of learning and willingness to experiment with flavor play a big role in her business. She spent months developing her core shortbread recipe and created her own special gluten-free flour mix.
“I’m inspired by cool flavors that I love that are not typically in a cookie,” she emphasizes, “and then I turn those flavors into a cookie.” Enjoying fresh mango drizzled with chamoy sauce on Venice Beach, for example, led to a similarly flavored shortbread cookie. Cocktails are also a constant source of inspiration. Some recent offerings (many that can be ordered gluten-free and/or vegan) include Passionfruit Punch, Cafe Limón, Pistachio Rose, Candy Cap Mushroom, Matcha Pearl, Lemon Lavender, Balsamic Fig Pepitas, Salted Rosemary Apricot, Chai Latte and House of Ginger. She’s toying with the idea of developing a citrus olive oil shortbread and is experimenting with savory flavors as well.
Sweet Botanical Bakes combines Berry’s interest in food with the floral talent and entrepreneurial spirit that run in her family. Her grandparents were flower suppliers to New York City wholesalers and her parents owned a gift shop in Virginia, where she worked while growing up. With this background in mind, Berry stresses that it’s critical for aspiring entrepreneurs to develop a business plan to make sure that their business will be profitable. For those interested in starting a food business, Berry also strongly advises hiring a food photographer and food stylist.
Making cookies is meditative for Berry and she wants that to continue as she grows. She stresses that she doesn’t want to be a person who turns their passion into a business and ends up not enjoying it.
“I love the comfort of sending someone food. There’s a level of surprise, delight and pure, unadulterated joy in the gift-giving moment. It’s also important for me to be able to give back, so I support local community gardens and seed preservation efforts. I take something simple and make it extraordinary. It’s what I like to do.”
Sweet Botanical Bakes cookies are sold online and at events, specialty stores, farmers markets, florist partners and pop-ups.
This story appeared in the Spring 2026 issue.
