How a Crinkle Cookie Sparked a Sweet Dream in Perth ✨
⏱️ Read Time: 5 mins | 📅 August 15, 2025 | ✍️ by Lil’P (The Secret Element)“The secret ingredient isn’t just in the recipe — it’s in the love, the moments, and the memories we bake into every bite.”
Sometimes, the most meaningful journeys begin with something small — like a single cookie. Mine began with a chocolate crinkle.
My auntie, Tita Sheila — someone I deeply admire (not just because she’s a chef, but because she treats food like a love language) — once mentioned a dessert she missed from the Philippines.
She said, “I’ve never tasted anything quite like it here in Perth.” I held onto that sentence like a challenge. But more than that, I held onto it like a calling.
So, I started baking.
Which sounds simple… but at the time, I had zero baking experience. As in nothing! Just a curious heart and a brave stomach. I was terrified and scared I’d mess it up, scared of hearing “okay lang…” (which is Filipino code word for “it’s not okay”), and scared that trying might somehow ruin the memory she was chasing.
But I tried anyways.
I watched videos. Read endless recipes. Got lost in YouTube comment sections. Some days, the crinkles came out more like crumbles. Other days, I thought maybe I was close. But batch after batch, waste after waste, I kept going — chasing a feeling, not just a flavour.
👩
“I’ve never tasted anything quiet like it here in Perth.”
More than a Cookie 🍪
Tita Shiela became my unofficial taste tester. We worked in secret (like undercover crinkle agents), tasting, tweaking, laughing. Then, one day, she took a bite... paused... and smiled.
“This is it,” she said.
That moment felt like magic. Because it wasn’t just about the cookie anymore. It wasn’t even about the craving. It was about connection.
And that’s where the story of The Secret Element quietly began — in the warmth of our family kitchen
My Cheerleader 🙆♂️
When I got married, my husband quickly became my biggest cheerleader. He saw something in me that I sometimes doubted — the ability to turn this passion into something real. He gently nudged (okay, maybe persistently nudged) me toward the idea of sharing my baking with others. I hesitated. So many times! I had all the usual doubts: What if no one likes it? What if I’m not ready? What if it’s just a phase?
But he never gave up.
He kept reminding me that what I was making had heart. And sometimes, you just need one person to believe in you a little louder than your fears.
The Spark ✨
And then came Ate Debbie.
A long-time family friend, she tried one of our crinkle cookies at an event. She took a bite, looked me dead in the eye, and said, “You need to sell these. I’ll be your first customer.”
And just like that, a tiny seed was planted.
The Secret Promise ✅
Before we told anyone, Tita Shiela and I made a secret promise — not even Mama Liz could know. Trust me, that wasn’t easy. She’s our most honest (and most brutally loving) taste tester. If something’s not right, she’ll say it. No hesitation. No mercy.
One time, she took a bite, paused thoughtfully, and said, “Kulang pa.”
Sometimes she’ll give a whole list of tips and ideas — “Try to put more cocoa powder,” or “Maybe less sugar next time.”
But other times? That’s it. Nothing. Just silence — no follow-up, no notes. Like a gentle dare wrapped in one word, with her walking away like some kind of kitchen wizard disappearing into a cloud of flour.
And somehow, that one word has the power to send you straight back to the mixing bowl, rethinking your life choices... and questioning every choice you’ve made since preheating the oven.
It’s basically no sugarcoating — even if the cookies themselves are literally sugar-coated.
I told Tita Shiela, “Let’s keep this quiet until Mama approves the crinkles.”
It felt like we were planning a surprise party. For a cookie.
The Final Stamp of Approval 💖
So, one day, I baked a big batch, packed them in a simple box, and brought them to Mama Liz. She opened it, looked at them, and said with a spark in her eye:
“Pwede na itong pang benta!” (Translation: “You can sell these.”)
That moment? I’ll never forget it. It felt like the final stamp of approval we didn’t even know we we’re waiting for.
Wrapped Like a Dream 🎁
Not long after, I brought our crinkles to my cousin’s birthday, Shan. This time dressed for the occasion. They were individually packed, sealed with our little logo, and looking like they had somewhere important to be.
That was the first time I looked at The Secret Element and thought,
“Maybe this isn’t just a dream.”
“Maybe this is something real.”
Beyond the Ingredients 🍪
We’re a family of five, and if there’s one thing that ties us all together — it’s food. We cook together. We bake together. Our kitchen is our therapy, our chaos, our happy place. It’s loud, messy, and full of love.
That chocolate crinkle recipe became a family project. But more than the ingredients, what made it special was the laughter, the mess, and the many “tikman mo nga ulit” moments.
That was the secret element: love.
Not just an ingredient — but a feeling.
The Thoughtful Pause ☁️
Mama Liz, our resident taste critic and kitchen queen, would often take a bite and say,
“There’s something I’m looking for in the taste... but I can’t quite name it.”
And I never took that as a negative. I took it as a beautiful reminder — that baking is about more than precision. It’s about chasing something you feel but can’t always describe.
And that’s how our little saying started: “It’s not just sugar and flour... it’s love, laughter, and that special something we can’t quite name.”
Why I Bake? 🍪
This journey hasn’t been all sweet and smooth.
Baking is a science. The tiniest things matter — the size of the eggs, the brand of the cocoa powder, even the number of times you stir. I’ve cried over flat cookies and burned more batches than I can count. But every single mistake taught me something — mostly patience (and the absolute magic of timers of course).
Baking isn’t always perfect. It’s messy, unpredictable, and yes — sometimes downright frustrating. But that’s also what makes it so rewarding. Every crumb, every little “oops,” is part of the story we bake into every bite.
For me, baking is more than a skill.
It’s my therapy. It’s my quiet.
It’s my place to breathe.
And The Secret Element isn’t just a brand.
It’s a piece of our story — a story we get to share one cookie, one bite, one smile at a time.
So, what keeps me going? 💖
The people.
The ones who take a bite and smile.
The ones who come back for more.
The ones who support small and homemade — who choose heart over hype.
This little kitchen journey is built on them. On you.
The Secret Element is my quiet hours in the kitchen.
It’s my husband’s steady belief in me.
It’s Mama Liz’s thoughtful pause.
It’s Tita Shiela’s quiet faith.
It’s Ate Debbie’s spark.
It’s every friend who celebrated the small wins — and every stranger who turned into a loyal customer
A Little About Me 👩🏻🍳
I’m not a trained baker, and cooking has never come naturally to me. I still remember burning the rice when Grandma asked me to cook it. (She was patient, and that’s probably where I got my patience from.)
I’m just someone who followed a simple feeling and somehow found something much bigger than I ever expected.
In the beginning, I was filled with so much doubt that I used to tell people — even friends, colleagues and customers — that it was my husband who did all the baking.
It felt safer that way. If something went wrong, maybe it wouldn’t feel so personal.
But the truth is… it was me. Quietly learning. Quietly trying.
And he was always there — cheering me on in the background, reminding me I could do it, even when I didn’t fully believe it myself.
I still get nervous every time I try, or even create, a new recipe. I still do a small happy dance when someone says they enjoyed our cookies.
And honestly, it feels a little bit like a dream I’m still learning to believe.
If you’re still reading this, thank you! 💘
Thank you for supporting something homemade.
Thank you for making space for something small and meaningful.
Thank you for letting our family be a part of your story — one sweet bite at a time.
With all my heart,
Lil’ P.
The Secret Element