‘Accidental Author’: Abi Balingit’s...

PAGE 14 do everything to stay stable until I am financially secure.”

She also fondly remembers her mom telling her ‘Do your best and God will do the rest’ while her dad would tell her to just be good to other people a major life lesson that she learned at such a young age through the folk story about the monkey and the turtle that her dad used to tell her as a kid.

Her parents inculcated in her to lead her life with kindness and do good for others and that’s what she has been doing with her baking. The joy of doing it is sharing the stuff that she has created with other people and one way to do that is through the book. Another way is that every time she holds a pop-up, she tries her best to donate proceeds to mutual aid organizations.

California homecoming

After a couple of events in New York earlier this month, Balingit is all set to fly to California to do a mini book tour to launch the book.

“In my heart and my feelings, I feel very proud and very excited,” she told us. “My parents have a book already and they’re reading it right now. But it’s really special to come home - I’m the only one here on the East Coast right now and it’s been six years of me living here.”

She knew from the get-go her primary market and she made sure her publishers knew about it.

“I was very upfront and I was like, obviously personally, I want Filipinos… to make the Filipino Americans as the most specific target but I hope that this is also to all bakers out there,” she said.

“I don’t think there’s any reason why anyone should turn an eye and be like, ‘Oh, I’m not Filipino and I have a Filipino cookbook’ because I think there’s genuine curiosity across every type of baker and every different level of baker. So I think this book appeals to hopefully everyone,” she added.

Balingit was on a vacation in Key West, Florida with her boyfriend as a celebration of their fifth anniversary. Her editor emailed her saying that she has the first copies of the book and it was sent to her by mail.

“I was so excited and I cried,” she said, recalling the moment. “A lot of people compare writing a book to literally having a baby because it’s such a long gestation period.”

“Holding the book for the first time was just surreal. I think it was like a pinch yourself kind of thing because I just didn’t think it’d ever be done, to be honest.”

The sweet test

Balingit admits that as a young kid, she loved everything sweet, from candies and cakes to pastries. As she grew up, her taste matured as well.

“Now my favorite thing to say is like that’s not too sweet, that’s so good and that’s a major compliment, you know. And I think a lot of the times like

American desserts are traditionally a bit sweeter,” she shared.

This is the reason why among the 75 recipes included in her book, some have savory influences, like the aforementioned Adobo Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then there’s Miso Caramelized White Chocolate Champorado with Pork Floss, Kare-Kare Cookies, Stamped Calamansi-Fish Sauce Shortbread, Spicy Bagoong Caramels, and Sampalok Tajin Snickerdoodle, among others.

It was a conscious effort on her part to create these recipes that are not too sweet so she found ways to cut the sweetness by adding salty and savory components to balance things out.

Asked about what’s in store for the future for her, Balingit said she is open to everything. Some people have asked her to open a café to showcase all her treats, and others have suggested a follow-up book.

“I still want to love baking, I think that’s what I want to continue to do,” she said. “But it’s also about finding that delicate balance. I think maybe the right time will come for me to do all these things.”

“It’s interesting how it wasn’t always my intention to write a book, it wasn’t my intention to have this blow up the way that it did. But I’m really grateful for it,” Balingit added. “But it’s more like, I’m letting the tide take me and that’s how I want the future to be so I will never say no to anything.”