Effect of high-oleic sunflower oil and other pro-health ingredients on physical and sensory properties of biscuits

Biscuits: a systematic review and meta-analysis of improving the nutritional quality and health benefits

Biscuits are ready-to-eat foods that are traditionally prepared mainly with wheat flour, fat, and sugar. Recently, biscuits’ technologies have been rapidly developed to improve their nutritional properties. This study aimed to determine the strategies of improving the nutritional quality of biscuits and the potential health benefits associated with them. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted, including articles on biscuits improved by technological processes and raw materials variation. Studies were searched from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science published between 1997 and 2020, in English and French. The meta-analysis was performed using RStudio software, version 4.0.4 to classify the biscuits. One hundred and seven eligible articles were identified. Rice, pea, potato, sorghum, buckwheat, and flaxseed flours were respectively the most found substitutes to wheat flour. But the meta-analysis shown that the copra and foxtail millet biscuit fortified with amaranth, the wheat biscuits fortified with okra, and rice biscuits fortified with soybeans had a high protein content. These biscuits therefore have a potential to be used as complementary foods. The substitution of sugar and fat by several substitutes lead to a decrease in carbohydrates, fat, and energy value. It has also brought about an increase in other nutrients such as dietary fiber, proteins/amino acids, fatty acids, and phenolic compounds. Among the sugar and fat substitutes, stevia and inulin were respectively the most used. Regarding the use of biscuits in clinical trials, they were mainly used for addressing micronutrient deficiency and for weight loss.

Herbal Extracts Incorporated into Shortbread Cookies: Impact on Color and Fat Quality of the Cookies

This study aimed at determining the effect of aqueous ethanolic extracts from lemon balm, hyssop and nettle, and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) on properties of shortbread cookies. This was achieved by instrumental measurements of color and sensory properties of the cookies directly after baking and by determination of peroxide (PV) and p-anisidine (p-AnV) values, and specific extinction coefficients (K₂₃₂ and K₂₆₈ values) for fat extracted from the cookies stored for 3 months at room temperature. Increase of the herbal extracts’ concentration from 0.02% to 0.2% in the cookies caused a reduction of L* (the brightness) and a* values (the red coordinate), while b* values (the yellow coordinate) increased when the cookies were enriched with lemon balm and nettle extracts. Among the cookies studied, those prepared with BHA and 0.1 and 0.2% addition of lemon balm extracts were characterized by the highest scores for aroma, taste, and overall acceptability. Incorporation of BHA and 0.02% hyssop extract into the cookies caused a decrease of PV values (the peroxide value) for fat extracted from the cookies after 3 months of their storage compared to a (control) sample without additives and produced the lowest K₂₃₂ values. Changes in the p-AnV values for the fat samples studied occurred gradually and slowly during the storage and the obtained values were lower compared to the control sample. All of the studied fat samples also showed a higher ability to scavenge DPPH radicals than the control sample. Considering both PV and p-AnV values as indicators of fat oxidation, BHA protected fat extracted from cookies against oxidation better than the herbal extracts used.

Effect of high-oleic rapeseed oil oleogels on the quality of short-dough biscuits and fat migration

Short-dough biscuits are popular snacks. Unfortunately, fat used in most of these products has low nutritional value due to the high content of saturated fatty acids. The most popular fat used in bakery products is palm oil. In this work high-oleic rapeseed oil was used in the form of oleogels structured by waxes (canelilla, rice bran, yellow and white beeswax), monoacyloglicerols and ethylcelullose. In this form oil keeps nutritional value and has solid consistency. Obtained oleogels were significantly different than palm oil in terms of texture and viscosity. However, using oleogel with 5% of monoacylglicerols, as a shortening let to obtain biscuits with similar properties to control sample (with palm oil). Addition of 2 and 3% of candelilla wax, 8% of ethylcelullose, 2% of rice bran wax and 5% of monoacylglicerols allowed to get products from which lipid fraction migration was similar or smaller then from control sample.

Bovine Milk Fats and Their Replacers in Baked Goods: A Review

Milk fats and related dairy products are multi-functional ingredients in bakeries. Bakeries are critical local industries in Western countries, and milk fats represent the most important dietary lipids in countries such as New Zealand. Milk fats perform many roles in bakery products, including dough strengthening, textural softeners, filling fats, coating lipids, laminating fats, and flavor improvers. This review reports how milk fats interact with the ingredients of main bakery products. It also elaborates on recent studies on how to modulate the quality and digestibility of baked goods by designing a new type of fat mimetic, in order to make calorie- and saturated fat-reduced bakery products. It provides a quick reference for both retailers and industrial manufacturers of milk fat-based bakery products.

Carbohydrate-Based Fat Mimetics Can Affect the Levels of 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-Diol Esters and Glycidyl Esters in Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread biscuits have become one of the most desirable snacks in all population groups but due to its high fat content it is searching for new solutions of fat reduction such as the use of carbohydrate-based fat mimetics. However, the thermal processing of food containing lipids in the presence of certain carbohydrates can contribute to the formation of toxic compounds or alter its levels. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the use of inulin and pectin gels as partial fat replacers (10-40%) in classical shortbread biscuits in a view of the changes of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol ester (3-MCPDE) and glycidyl ester (GE) levels after baking, and also after a two-months storage. The experiment showed that the amount of inulin gel higher than 10% promoted the endogenous formation of 3-MCPDE probably due to the higher amount of Maillard products formed in the biscuits, but after two months the levels decreased and were comparable with those transferred from shortening. Pectin did not demonstrate such phenomenon, owing to the presence of bound water in gel. Glycidyl esters were partially decomposed during baking and also during storage, particularly in the samples with the addition of pectin gel, which presumably caused by low stability of GE under acidic conditions resulting from the occurrence of galacturonic acid in pectin.

Fat Replacers in Baked Food Products

Fat provides important sensory properties to baked food products, such as colour, taste, texture and odour, all of which contribute to overall consumer acceptance. Baked food products, such as crackers, cakes and biscuits, typically contain high amounts of fat. However, there is increasing demand for healthy snack foods with reduced fat content. In order to maintain consumer acceptance whilst simultaneously reducing the total fat content, fat replacers have been employed. There are a number of fat replacers that have been investigated in baked food products, ranging from complex carbohydrates, gums and gels, whole food matrices, and combinations thereof. Fat replacers each have different properties that affect the quality of a food product. In this review, we summarise the literature on the effect of fat replacers on the quality of baked food products. The ideal fat replacers for different types of low-fat baked products were a combination of polydextrose and guar gum in biscuits at 70% fat replacement (FR), oleogels in cake at 100% FR, and inulin in crackers at 75% FR. The use of oatrim (100% FR), bean puree (75% FR) or green pea puree (75% FR) as fat replacers in biscuits were equally successful.