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Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 299–305

Effect of fat-type on cookie dough and cookie quality

Jissy Jacob, K. Leelavathi *

Flour Milling, Baking and Confectionery Technology, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore 570020, India

Received 6 June 2005; accepted 23 January 2006Available online 10 March 2006

Abstract

Effect of four different fat types on the rheology of the cookie dough and subsequently their effect on the quality of cookies were stud-ied. The dough containing sunflower oil had the least initial farinograph consistency while that containing the bakery fat (‘marvo’) hadthe most consistency. Observation of the response of the above two cookies doughs to farinograph mixing showed that the one contain-ing the oil showed more resistance to mixing while the other containing the bakery fat decreased in its consistency denoting the softernature of the later. The cookies containing the oil had relatively higher spread value than the others. While the cookies containing thenon-emulsified hydrogenated fat (‘dalda’) had the least spread. Studies also showed that the cookies containing the oil started to spreadearlier and continued to spread for a longer time. Cookies containing oil had relatively harder texture and probably so because of thepoor entrapment of air during creaming. However, the quality of these cookies was significantly improved by including 0.5% sodiumsteroyl lactylate in the formulation.� 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cookies; Shortening; Fat; Set-time; Cookie spread; Farinograph consistency

1. Introduction

Fat forms one of the basic components of a cookie for-mulation and is present at relatively high levels. Fat acts asa lubricant and contributes to the plasticity of the cookiedough (Maache-Rezzoug, Bouvier, Allaf, & Patras,1998). It also prevents excessive development of the glutenproteins during mixing. Fat imparts desirable eating qual-ities and contributes to texture and flavour of the product.The addition of shortening is done principally to stabilizeair cells that are generated by mixing (Given, 1994). Fatinfluences the dough machinability during processing, thedough spread after cutting out, and textural and gustatoryqualities of the biscuits after baking (Vettern, 1984). Pres-ence of fat contributes to the reduction of elastic natureof dough and shrinking of the dough during moulding(Maache-Rezzoug et al., 1998). The type and amount of

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doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2006.01.058

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 0821 2517730; fax: +91 08212517233.

E-mail address: leelarau@yahoo.co.uk (K. Leelavathi).

fat added to the dough has a strong effect on the viscoelas-tic properties (Baltsavias, Jurgens, & van Vliet, 1997).Baltsavias et al. (1997) also reported that reducing the fatcontent or substituting liquid oil for solid caused a markeddecrease in the stiffness of the dough which implies that fatis a crucial structure component. Increasing the level of fatin short doughs has a softening effect on the consistency ofthe dough (Miller, 1985).

The shortening that are used in bakery products range intheir consistency from liquid oils to high melting pointplastic fats. The only difference between a fat and an edibleoil is that at ambient temperature, a fat is semi-solid, andappears more or less firm to the touch, and an oil is inliquid form. They are both of similar chemical composition(Manley, 1998). In cookie production plastic shortening iscreamed with sugar to incorporate air bubbles that aretrapped in the liquid phase of the shortening. Shorteningto be effective must possess ‘plastic’ properties which arein turn exemplified by the correct solid-to-liquid index atdough mixing temperature. Solid fat index (SFI) denotesthe proportion of solid to liquid fat in a shortening at a

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given temperature and has an important relationship to theperformance of the product at that temperature. High SFIshortenings do not have enough oil volume for adequateaeration, and low SFI shortenings do not have the abilityto hold the air until mixing is complete (O’Brien, 2004).The presence of some solid fat during mixing is thoughtto be essential and the use of liquid oil is reported to haveadverse changes in the handling characteristics of thedough (Abboud, Rubenthaler, & Hoseney, 1985). Anothercharacteristics of fat is its crystalline nature. The threebasic polymorphs are designated a, b and b’ (Bailey,1950). It is essential for the fat to be in the b’ crystal formto promote optimum creaming (Baldwin, Baldry, & Johan-sen, 1972). Utilization of emulsified bakery shorteninghelps in the fine dispersion of the fat in the batter or doughsystem as compared to non-emulsified shortenings (Pyler,1988).

The main objective of the present work was to study theeffect of four such commercially available fats on cookiequality. The fats selected were, an emulsified bakery fat‘‘marvo’’, specially designed for cookie and biscuit produc-tion; margarine, an emulsified fat manufactured to resem-ble butter; a non-emulsified hydrogenated vegetable fat‘‘dalda’’, and a non-emulsified refined sunflower oil.Refined sunflower oil was selected because of its high nutri-tional value. Sunflower oil seeds are rich source of linoleicacid, which is one of the nutritionally essential fatty acids.The study included the effect of these four type of fats onthe rheology of the cookie dough and consequently onthe quality of the cookies.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Materials

Commercially available refined wheat flour was usedfor the preparation of sugar-snap cookies. Four types ofcommercially available fats were used in the formulation.These were, an emulsified bakery shortening ‘marvo’(M/s. Hindustan Lever Ltd., India), an emulsified marga-rine (M/s. Hindustan Lever Ltd., India), non-emulsifiedvegetable hydrogenated fat -‘dalda’ (manufactured byBunge Agribusiness Pvt, Ltd., India), and sunflower oil(ITC Agrotech Ltd., India). Commercially available sugarpowder, non-fat dry milk (NFDM), and food gradesodium chloride, dextrose, sodium steroyl lactylate (SSL),sodium bicarbonate and ammonium chloride were usedin the formulation.

2.2. Methods

2.2.1. Chemical and rheological characteristics of wheat flour

Wheat flour was analyzed for moisture (44–19), ash (08–01), protein (46–12), gluten (38–10), falling number (56–81b), diastatic activity (76–0A), and Farinograph waterabsorption (54–21) according to standard AACC proce-dures (1995).

2.2.2. Rheological characteristic of cookie dough

Cookie dough was prepared in a Hobart mixer accord-ing to AACC micro method (10–52, 1995). The cookie for-mulation consisted of wheat flour 40.0 g, sugar powder24.0 g, shortening 12.0 g, NFDM 1.20 g, sodium bicarbon-ate 0.32 g, ammonium chloride 0.20 g, sodium chloride0.18 g and water according to requirement. Consistencyof the cookie dough as influenced by different types of fatswas measured using Brabender Farinograph accordingOlewnik and Kulp (1984). Three hundred grams capacitymixer bowl was used in the experiment and the third leverposition was used to measure the cookie consistency. Themixing speed of the farinograph was 61 rpm. Three hun-dred grams of the pre-mixed cookie dough was transferredto the farinograph bowl and the farinograph was run for10 min. Cookie dough consistency was recorded at 0 and10 min mixing periods respectively. The above experimentswere conducted at ambient temperatures.

2.2.3. Texture of the cookie dough

The textural characteristics of the cookie dough weremeasured in ‘Instron’ Universal Testing machine (Model4301) using an aluminum plunger with 6.0 cm diameter.The load cell used was 50 kg and the crosshead speedwas 10 mm/min with a clearance of 1.5 cm. Cookie doughpiece of 4 cm diameter and 1 cm height was used to mea-sure the texture. The force required to compress the doughby 80% was recorded and the average value of six replicatesis reported. The above experiments were conducted atambient temperatures.

2.2.4. Cookie preparation and evaluation

Cookies containing four different fats respectively wereprepared according to AACC micro method (No. 10–52,1995). The cookie dough was sheeted to a thickness of0.5 cm and cut using a circular die of 6.5 cm diameter.Cookies were baked at 205 �C. Cookies were subjectivelyevaluated for thickness, spread, spread ratio, texture andsurface cracking pattern. The breaking strength was mea-sured using the triple beam snap technique of Gains(1991) using ‘Instron’ Universal Testing machine (Model4301) at a crosshead speed of 50 mm/min and load cell of250 kg. Force required to break a single cookie wasrecorded and the average value of six replicates is reported.

2.2.5. Statistical analysisThe results were analyzed statistically using Duncan’s

New Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955).

3. Results and discussion

The refined wheat flour used in the study had moisturecontent of 11.9% and protein content of 9.7% respectively.The flour had an ash content of 0.43% and dry gluten con-tent of 7.13%. The falling number of the flour was 439 sand the diastatic activity was 408 g maltose/10 g flour.Flour had Farinograph water absorption of 59.6%.

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3.1. Measurement of the cookie dough consistency

The farinograph dough consistency and the farinographbandwidth of the pre-mixed cookie dough were recorded at0 and 10 min mixing respectively (Table 1 and Fig. 1). Thehorizontal position of the band on the chart is considered ameasure of consistency (resistance to movement), with lar-ger numbers (BU) indicating stiffer dough and the band-width is considered to denote the degree of tenacityproperties of doughs (Olewnik & Kulp, 1984). The resultshowed that the cookie dough containing the sunfloweroil had the least initial consistency of 200 BU, whichincreased to 400 BU with continued mixing in the farino-graph. The initial bandwidth of this farinogram was rela-tively narrow at 20 BU. With continued mixing however,the bandwidth increased to 120 BU. This denotes that thedough containing the oil, even though, was less stiff ini-tially, became relatively more stiff and tenacious with con-tinued mixing. Subjective observation during doughpreparation showed that mixing of oil, sugar and waterformed a very smooth and less aerated thin paste and whenflour was added to the above cream it transformed intodough quite easily. Olewnik and Kulp (1984) infer thatphysical properties of cookie dough depend on the distri-bution of fat and water in the system and when fat is poorlydistributed in the cookie system flour particles remainaccessible to water which results in development of gluten

Table 1Effect of fat type on the farinograph consistency of cookie dough

Fat type Farinograph dough consistency(BU)

0 (min) 10 (min)

Bakery fat (Marvo) 440 360Margarine 380 270Hydrogenated fat (dalda) 310 300Sunflower oil 200 400

Fig. 1. Effect of: (1) bakery fat (marvo), (2) margarine, (3) non-emulsifiedhydrogenated fat (dalda), and (4) sunflower oil, on Farinograph charac-teristics of cookie dough.

proteins. Maache-Rezzoug et al. (1998) explain that it isonly when fat is mixed with flour before hydration, thatit prevents the formation of a gluten network and produceless elastic dough. When liquid oils are used in a dough sys-tem it gets dispersed on mixing through out the dough inthe form of minutes globules which are far less effectivein their shortening and aerative actions than are plasticfat films (Pyler, 1988). It is possible that when sunfloweroil was used in the present study, it lacked the ability tosmear all the flour particles and therefore had the tendencyfor gluten protein to develop during the mixing resulting inan increase in the consistency of the dough. Developmentof gluten proteins would also make the dough elastic,which offers resistance to mixing resulting in wider bandwidth. It can also be speculated here that the cookie doughcontaining oil was less aerated because unlike the solid orplastic fats liquid oil do not aid in aeration of the doughor batter in which they are present (Pyler, 1988). Doughdensity depends on the type of fat used. Less aerateddough is denser than aerated dough resulting in stifferdough consistency. It is believed that the solid content ofthe fat at mixing affects dough density, doughs with lowersolid fat have higher densities (Baltsavias et al., 1997).

Cookie dough containing the non-emulsified hydroge-nated fat (‘dalda’) had an initial consistency of 310 BUand the consistency did not change much even after10 min mixing. The bandwidth of the above farinogramwas 60 BU at 0 min and increased marginally to 80 BUat the end of 10 min mixing. The above observationshowed that the dough was relatively stiff and maintainedits consistency even after 10 min mixing in the farinograph.This could be due to the fact that hard fats when used in adough system solidify into undesirable b crystalline formthat do not aid in proper aeration resulting in dense andstiff dough (Knightly, 1981). O’Brien, Chapman, Neville,Keogh, and Arendt (2003) also reported that hydrogenatedvegetable fats produced very stiff biscuit dough. Baltsaviaset al. (1997) explained that a firm fat will be broken downto large lumps, whereas the standard fat will be smearedout over the flour particles. Another draw back of thisfat was the absence of an emulsifier in its system. An emul-sifier is able to trap air and improve the creaming propertyof the dough or batter system (O’Brien, 2004). A well aer-ated dough is less stiff than a poorly aerated dough. Incor-poration of mono- and di-glycerides reduces thedependence of shortenings upon the crystalline properties,solids-to-liquid ratios, and mixing procedures to developcreaming properties (O’Brien, 2004). Presence of emulsifi-ers in fat is also highly effective in promoting the uniformdispersion of the fat in dough (Pyler, 1988).

Cookie dough containing margarine had an initial con-sistency of 380 BU, but the consistency decreased to270 BU with further mixing. The bandwidth of the farino-gram was initially 60 BU and did not alter much with mix-ing further. Subjective observation during doughpreparation in the Hobart mixer showed that the fat, sugarand water formed a very light, fluffy, well aerated cream

Fig. 2. Effect of bakery fat (marvo), margarine, non-emulsified hydroge-nated fat (dalda), and sunflower oil respectively, on cookie doughhardness.

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and with the addition of flour transformed into a softdough. Therefore, it is possible that even though the initialconsistency of this dough was relatively higher, on furthermixing in the farinograph, the consistency of this doughdecreased significantly by about 100 BU denoting that thedough became less stiff. In most of the cases processingof margarine is directed at achieving a b’-crystal modifica-tion, which ensures that the fat can readily incorporate andretain air (Hamm & Hamilton, 2004). In addition the mar-garine fat that was used in this study also contained certainemulsifiers, which would further have enhanced the aerat-ing properties of the cream. Due to these reasons the coo-kie dough containing margarine broke down easily whenmixed in the Farinograph with a relatively narrow band-width indicating a less elastic dough.

Finally, the cookie dough containing the emulsified bak-ery fat ‘‘marvo’’ had an initial consistency of 440 BU, high-est recorded amongst the four fats studied. The consistencyhowever, decreased to 360 BU after 10 min mixing. The ini-tial bandwidth was 80 BU and did not change with mixingthe dough further. During manufacture of bakery fats b’hard fats are added to extend their plastic range whichimproves their creaming properties, texture and consis-tency (O’Brien, 2004). Even though the initial consistencyof this dough was relatively more compared to the otherthree cookie doughs, the consistency reduced considerablyduring continued mixing in the farinograph, most probablybecause the dough was well aerated hence less dense. Thenarrow bandwidth of the above dough also indicates thenon-elastic nature of the dough. This observation was sim-ilar to the one made for the dough containing margarine.

It can be argued here that if the initial consistency istaken into consideration, the stiffest of the four doughswas the one containing the bakery fat ‘marvo’ and the soft-est was that containing the oil. However, if their responseto mixing is considered, the dough containing oil showedmore resistance to mixing maintaining its consistencythroughout the mixing period hence the stiffest, while thedough containing both margarine and ‘marvo’ decreasedin its consistency denoting they had the least resistancetowards mixing hence the least stiff. The dough containing‘dalda’ could also be considered to be stiff, as it did notbreak down on continued mixing in the farinograph. Ifthe band width could be related to the tenacious propertiesof the dough, according to Olewnik and Kulp (1984), eventhough the initial band width of the dough containing oilwas less it increased to about 120 BU and maintained itsband width. The least tenacious dough was the one con-taining the margarine.

The variation in the consistency of the dough containingdifferent fats could be due to the variation in their SFIwhich is an indication of the actual proportion of the solidcomponent present in a shortening. Plastic shortenings,although exhibit the properties of solids at room tempera-ture are in reality a mixture of both crystalline and liquidtriglycerides in which the liquid oil is enmeshed in a massof minute fat crystals. The plastic nature of the shortening

is influenced by factors such as amount of solid materialpresent, size and form of the individual crystals etc. Inordinary plastic shortening the content of solid fats gener-ally comprises 20–30%, while the remaining 70–80% repre-sent liquid oils (Pyler, 1988). In order for the fat to beeffective it should have a correct solids-to-liquid ratio atdough mixing temperature (Given, 1994).

3.2. Texture analysis of cookie dough

The force required to compress the cookie dough con-taining four different types of fats respectively is shown inFig. 2. Results show that the cookie dough containingthe non-emulsified hydrogenated fat (‘dalda’) was the hard-est requiring more strength to compress it to the requiredextent. Cookie dough containing ‘margarine’ was the soft-est requiring the least force to compress it. Dough samplescontaining the bakery fat and sunflower oil respectivelyhad almost similar textural properties that were marginallyharder than that containing margarine. It is possible thatdough made with oil is generally more cohesive and viscousand hence softer. On the other hand, dough made withhydrogenated fats gives higher values.

3.3. Physical characteristics of cookies

The physical characteristics of cookies made using differ-ent fats are shown in Table 2. The result showed that cook-ies containing sunflower oil had relatively higher spreadvalue. Abboud et al. (1985) had earlier reported that withthe use of oil there was a non-significant increase in thediameter of the cookies. Cookies containing margarineand bakery fat (‘Marvo’) respectively had similar spreadvalues. On the other hand, cookie dough containing thehydrogenated fat (‘dalda’) had significantly less spread. Fin-ney, Yamazaki, and Morris (1950) and later Abboud et al.(1985) concluded that fat type is not an important variablefor cookie spread. But in the above experiment it was notedthat the cookies containing the non-emulsified hydro-genated fat ‘dalda’ had spread less. The hydrogenated fat

Table 2Effect of fat type on the physical characteristics of cookies

Fat type Width (W) (cm) Thickness (T) (cm) Spread ratio (W/T) Breaking strength (kg f)

Bakery fat (Marvo) 8.1b 1.08 7.51 4.6a

Margarine 8.1b 1.10 7.37 4.7a

Hydrogenated fat (dalda) 7.8c 1.03 7.58 5.1ab

Sunflower oil 8.8a 1.05 8.38 9.7c

Figures followed by different letters are significantly different from each other (p 6 0.05).

J. Jacob, K. Leelavathi / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 299–305 303

tends to form beta crystals which do not support aeration(Knightly, 1981). Partial hydrogenation is applied to helpproduce vegetable bakery shortenings having desirableplastic character (Given, 1994).

3.4. Measurement of cookie set time

In the present study it was of interest to observe the settime of the cookie dough containing different fats. The ‘set-time’ is the point at which, expansion of the cookie doughstops (Hoseney, Wade, & Finley, 1988). In order to observethe set time of the cookie dough, the sheeted and cut cookiedough (4.5 cm diameter) was placed in the baking ovenmaintained at 205 �C. Respective cookie doughs were care-fully removed from the oven at every 1 min interval untilthe final baking time. The spread of the cookie doughand eventually the cookie was measured at each point ofremoval. The results are shown in Fig. 3. Accordingly, itwas observed that dough containing sunflower oil startedto spread earlier than the other doughs and continued tospread for a much longer time until the dough reached itsset point. A high spread rate plus a delayed set time givesthe largest diameter to the cookies (Stauffer, 1994). Onthe other hand, dough containing the hydrogenated fat‘‘dalda’’ reached its set point much early. Cookie doughcontaining margarine spread faster initially than that con-taining the bakery fat ‘Marvo’ and reached its set pointaround 5 min of baking. Cookie dough containing bakery

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Baking time (minutes)

Coo

kie

spre

ad (

cm)

bakery fat

margarine

hydrogenated fatsunflower oil

Fig. 3. Effect of bakery fat (marvo), margarine, non-emulsified hydroge-nated fat (dalda), and sunflower oil respectively, on the rate of cookiespread.

fat ‘Marvo’ spread more gradually. However, the set pointfor both the dough was around 6 min.

3.5. Measurement of cookie texture

Measurement of the breaking strength showed thatcookies containing the oil were the hardest (Table 2 andFig. 4). On the other hand, breaking strength of cookiescontaining the other three types of fats was not signifi-cantly different from each other. It was of interest toobserve here that hardness of the dough (Fig. 2) did notnecessarily control the texture of the cookies (Fig. 4). Asobserved earlier cookie dough containing hydrogenatedfat was the hardest and the least dough hardness wasobserved for that containing margarine. The texture ofthe cookie dough containing sunflower oil was similar tothat containing the bakery fat. In contrast, cookies madeusing sunflower oil were the hardest while those containingthe bakery fat were the least hard. Abboud et al. (1985)also reported that it is not possible to obtain a satisfactorycreamed mass with oil hence lacking proper aeration.Greethead (1969) claim that more plastic and smooth tex-tured the fat greater its shortening power. Softer theworked fat, lower the breaking strength of the cookies.Plasticity in fats is required since during the creaming pro-cess they entrap and retain considerable volumes of airresulting in an important leavening effect. Ordinary liquidoils on the other hand, are dispersed upon mixing throughout the dough in the form of globules that are less effec-tive in their shortening and aerating actions (Hartnett &

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Bre

akin

gst

reng

th(K

g)

Bakery fat Margarine Hydrogenated fat Sunflower oil

Fig. 4. Effect of bakery fat (marvo), margarine, non-emulsified hydroge-nated fat (dalda), and sunflower oil respectively, on the breaking strengthof cookies.

Fig. 6. Effect of sunflower oil (SFO), sunflower oil + bakery fat (marvo)(SFO + BF), sunflower oil + SSL (SFO + SSL), respectively, on cookiebreaking strength.

Fig. 7. Effect of bakery fat (marvo) (2); and SSL (3); on the surfacecracking pattern of cookies containing sunflower oil (1).

304 J. Jacob, K. Leelavathi / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 299–305

Thalheimer, 1979). Hornstein, King, and Benedict (1943)claimed that consistency of the worked fat has a highly sig-nificant effect with softer the worked fat, lower the break-ing strength of the cookie. Kamel (1994) explains thatalthough large amounts of air can be incorporated intoliquid oil, it cannot be retained in the system and this mightexplain the hard texture of the cookie.

3.6. Surface cracking pattern of cookies

One of the important features of sugar-snap cookies istheir surface cracking pattern. Cookies containing the bak-ery fat had uniform medium sized islands (Fig. 5). Rela-tively smaller islands were seen in cookies containingmargarine. Cookies made using the hydrogenated fat‘dalda’ had still smaller islands. On the other hand, cookiescontaining the oil had large sized islands. Doescher andHoseney (1985) explain that during baking, sucrose presenton the surface of the cookie crystallizes, causing the surfaceto dry rapidly and as the cookie spreads, the dry surfacecracks. In the present study, it can be recalled that the coo-kie doughs containing the three plastic fats respectivelystopped spreading around 5 min of baking while that con-taining the oil continued to spread till about 7 min of bak-ing. It can be reasoned here that sugar crystallization tookplace at the appropriate time that led to drying of the coo-kie surface. But since the cookie dough continued to spreadbecause the dough was not sufficiently viscous to stop thespread the hardened surface cracked leading to larger sizedislands.

3.7. Replacement of oil with bakery fat

Since presence of oil produced cookies which had verylarge surface islands and hard texture it was of interest tosee if partial replacement of oil with the bakery fat wouldhave any improving effect on these cookies. Accordingly50% of oil was replaced with the bakery fat and the cookieswere prepared. The results showed that the breaking

Fig. 5. Effect of (1) bakery fat (marvo), (2) margarine, (3) non-emulsifiedhydrogenated fat (dalda), and (4) sunflower oil on surface cracking patternof cookies.

strength of these cookies reduced significantly to 5.3 kgfrom 9.7 kg when only oil was used in the formulation(Fig. 6). There was an improvement in the surface islandsalso (Fig. 7). These islands that were large when only oilwas present in the formulation became medium sized andmore acceptable with partial replacement with the bakeryfat. Partial replacement with a plastic fat was sufficient toaerate the cookie dough during mixing which imparted asignificant effect on both the texture and surface islandsof the cookies.

3.8. Effect of sodium steroyl lactylate (SSL) on quality of

cookies containing oil

SSL has been demonstrated to contribute to aeration ofthe dough, improve top grain score and also the viscosityof the cookie dough during baking (Tsen, Bauck, &Hoover, 1975). In the present study 0.5% SSL was includedin the cookie formulation containing the oil. The resultswere very significant. The hardness of the cookies reducedsignificantly (Fig. 6). The hardest of the cookies as was seenearlier were the ones containing the sunflower oil recordinga breaking strength of 9.7 kg. When SSL was added thisvalue reduced to 3.5 kg. There was also a significantimprovement in the surface cracking pattern of the cookies.The islands on the cookie surface were of medium sizeinstead of the large ones when no emulsifier was used(Fig. 7). There was also a reduction in the spread of the

J. Jacob, K. Leelavathi / Journal of Food Engineering 79 (2007) 299–305 305

cookies. Incorporation of air cells is known to influence theviscosity of the system. Viscosity of the cookie dough in theoven is known to affect the spread of the cookies and emul-sifiers have the ability to control the viscosity of the dough(Tsen et al., 1975). Earlier Hodge (1984) had reported thatexcellent cookies could be made from dough containingrelatively low levels of emulsified liquid oils as comparedto traditional levels of plastic shortenings. Given (1994)has elucidated that even though emulsified oils do notcontain any appreciable solids, they perform as equallywell as plastic shortenings with regard to retention of incor-porated air.

4. Conclusions

Measurement of cookie dough consistency in farino-graph showed that the one containing the oil behaved dif-ferently than those containing the other three types of fats.This farinogram looked as though the dough was develop-ing during the initial stages of mixing in the farinograph.And also this dough did not break down during mixingand the farinogram had a relatively stable and wider band.This could be probably because there was more free waterin the dough which had not formed an emulsion with theoil. And this free water was being utilized for the develop-ment of the gluten proteins making the dough more elasticand offering more resistance to mixing. On the other hand,doughs containing the plastic fats showed a tendency forbreak down inferring the relative soft texture of the dough.

The measurement of texture of the cookie dough in thetexture analyzer revealed that dough containing the hydro-genated fat ‘dalda’, needed more force to compress it thanthose containing either the sunflower oil or the other twotypes of fats. Here texture of the cookie dough containingoil was similar to the ones containing the bakery fat.

Comparing the above two measurements with the coo-kie texture, the mixing trend of the cookie dough in the far-inograph seem to give a better insight into the texture ofthe cookies rather than its initial consistency in the farino-graph or the measurement of its compression force in a tex-ture analyzer.

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