A Question for Those Who like Baking

oh... sweetheart! Don't buy this on amazon! You can get all of this at your local grocery store for a fraction of the price! Brand is not important. Go to your local grocery with your list and ask for help. They will gladly help you find Swan flour, plain flour, and whole milk powder. (Swan flour is known as cake flour in the US) and margarine comes in 10 brands... but i suspect (as a peron who has baked commercially and personally for 30 years) that you want butter. don't be surprised if she asks for your recipe. I'm quite interested myself!!!

As the others have said you can get this in the store. Swan's Down is a good cake flour, I use it all the time. One box is about $3 and has 2 lbs of flour, which is about 900 g. So one box should be good for your recipe. Whole milk powder (which is the same thing as Full Cream) is also in the baking aisle of the grocery store. The butter essence will be called butter flavoring and if you don't find it in the baking aisle of the grocery store, you can get it at a craft store like Hobby Lobby, Michael's or AC Moore. Or you can probably just use butter instead of margarine. Margarine is next to the butter. Your cookies sound delicious I might try them!

You can find swan at about any good supermarket here. It's an excellent flour. Parkay I a good margarine, too. Try a Kroger or such near you.

I've used Swan's Down cake flour before (don't remember what for, though). I don't remember thinking anything of it other than that it did the job. Price wise, you're better off doing the Swan's Down, but it's 16 lbs of cake flour, so unless you'll actually use it, you might go with the other.

Unless you're looking for a SPECIFIC brand of margarine, there are plenty of margarines you can buy at the regular grocery store. As far as stick margarine goes, the brand that comes to mind (because it's what my parents buy) is Parkay, but there are MANY of them.

There must be an Asian grocery store near you in Tempe. They would probably have the things you are looking for. Also try your regular supermarket as they have cake flour and full powedered milk. I think you can get small size of powdered milk (quart size).

I might have to try this recipe after the hoildays.

The other S.

I found this:

http://jkitchenlog.blogspot.com/2011/04/nastar-cookies-wi...

It seems to be quite authentic and will save you some money (instead of buying your ingredients on Amazon). From what I read online, it seems that Indonesian margarine is made with palm oil and is quite good quality, different from many of the cheap margarines we have here. I'd use butter. The cookies sound delicious!

I'm confused. You are in Indonesia now or you had no trouble finding these in Indonesia?

All those ingredients can be found in local grocery stores so I'm guessing you're in Indonesia now. You can use butter instead of margarine. I'm surprise there isn't margarine in Indonesia. I've not heard of the other brands.

Here is a recipe for cake flour. I would think you have regular flour and corn starch. http://joythebaker.com/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/

Ok, now that I know you're in the states. Az is it? I lived in Tempe for several years. I often shopped at Smith's grocery. Safeway and Albertson's are good stores too.

You can buy all of those products in a large grocery store for much less money and no shipping costs. Margarine is shelved next to butter in the refrigerated section. Cake flour and whole dried milk will be in the baking section. I've found success with several brands. I most often buy the store brand or whatever is on sale.

Pineapple cookies sound delicious. Would you share the recipe?

I have found cake flour and milk powder at regular grocery stores here, but you can also look up food storage places for the milk powder (usually tastes better), and nicer grocery stores for the cake flour (or bakery wholesale stores). Most of the "butter" we have here is actually margarine. Imperial, for example, is margarine. Good luck!

As for the margarine why don't you try "coconut oil"?