Photo via Infinite delight

Savory cookies with a distinctly Indonesian taste

Born into the family that owns cookie-and-biscuit giant Khong Guan, Kataline Darmono has always had a penchant for sweet treats. One day, when helping her brother prepare souvenirs for his wedding, she came up with an idea to package premium cookies in a decorated box. The gift turned out to be hit. Lo and behold, Kataline soon started her own line of cookies called Infinite Delight, with products that range from classic chocolate chip to those with savory, authentic Indonesian flavors. Here she shares the story behind her cookie company with JPlus.

Why cookies?

I'€™ve always loved cookies. When I was in the States, whenever I went to the mall with my grandparents, I would ask them to buy me two chocolate chip cookies'€”one to eat instantly and the other for later. I love the chewy texture and how the sweetness of the chocolate chip that melts in your mouth. After coming back to Jakarta, there were a lot of bread stores that opened up, but the options for cookies were very limited. I wanted to share the delicious cookies that I enjoyed growing up in the States and bring them back home for everyone here to enjoy.

Did you train to be a baker?

I studied finance and marketing as an undergraduate. My baking background started in the kitchen flipping through cookbooks and experimenting for the family. I have friends from culinary schools and we'€™d end up sharing pointers. So, the passion started from there. I'€™ve also worked together with well-known chefs from the Philippines and Australia to come up with new creations and recipes.

What are your best sellers?

We currently have 41 different flavors and our top 10 best sellers are chocolate chip, double choco chip, oatmeal raisin, choco mint, cream cheese, red velvet, crunchy, matcha, little leg and the savory collection.

We launched the very first savory cookie collection in Indonesia a few years ago and called it Indonesia Banget (Very Indonesian). We currently have nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut milk), soto ambengan (chicken noodle soup cooked with lemon grass, shallots and turmeric), sambal terasi (chilies blended with shrimp paste), rawon (black beef soup), rendang (braised beef in coconut milk), and ubi ungu (sweet potatoes).

As of now, we are focusing on those flavors so that the public will be more familiar with them. Some customers, though, have already asked for a wider selection. We are constantly improving and innovating to come up with new flavors. If the demand is high, we will definitely give it a try.

Your savory cookies are quite non-mainstream. What'€™s the story here?

I was traveling with my husband to Singapore and we came across a store that sold nasi lemak-flavored cookies. We were impressed, but we also realized that nasi lemak is originally from Malaysia, not Singapore. Indonesia with its vast variety of spices has so much more to offer to the world. When I was studying abroad, people were still very unfamiliar with Indonesia and its cuisine. The CNN World'€™s 50 Best Foods survey a few years ago ranked rendang at No. 11 among all the cuisines from around the world. This only proves that we need to introduce more of Indonesia cuisine. We also realize that whenever people go traveling abroad, they would bring kopi luwak or kerupuk from Indonesia. Why not bring cookies as souvenirs?

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Infinite Delight

Telp: 021-95231778
Facebook:  idcookies
Twitter/Instagram: @infinitedelight
Gd. Wirausaha, Ground Floor
Jl.H.R Rasuna Said, Jakarta.

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