Production of Sugar Free Vegan Rice Cookies.

Goutham Matta, Pi Yun Chen,Sailaja Pothula, Venitia Sequeira and Xi Zhang

Cookies are a major part of the snack food industry in the U.S.According to a statistical study, cookies at a 17.3%, are the second most consumed baked products after bread. Flour, sugar, and fat are the major ingredients in cookies.

Introduction:

Approximately 5% of the U.S. is vegetarian (close to 16 million people) and about half of these vegetarians are vegan. The vegan diet excludes all meat and animal products.

( Google Trends)

Introduction-Problem:

From 1980 through 2014, the number of U.S. adults aged 18 years or older with diagnosed diabetes has almost quadrupled (from 5.5 million to 21.9 million).Foods and drinks that use artificial sweeteners can be an option that may help diabetes patients to curb their cravings for something sweet and control their glucose level.

Introduction-Problem:

Celiac disease affects 1% of healthy, average Americans. At least 3 million people in our country are living with celiac disease – 97% of them are undiagnosed. – The untreated disease may cause many health issues, such as bone

fragility, depressed resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, and a variety of other nutritional, immunological, and inflammatory comorbidities.

The only existing treatment for celiac disease is to follow the gluten-free diet.• Gluten is a protein found in wheat,

barley, and rye.

Introduction-Problem:

To develop a new formulation of cookies for vegans suffering from celiac disease and/or diabetes.The new product will use:

Research Purpose:

WHY RICE FLOUR?RICE FLOUR is one of the most suitable cereals for gluten-free product formulations.– Due to soft taste, colorless appearance, hypoallergenic properties, low levels

of sodium and easy digestible carbohydrates.WHY STEVIA?

STEVIA significantly reduces postprandial glucose levels and postprandial insulin levels compared to other artificial sweeteners. – It is generally recognized as safe by the FDA and experts have agreed that it

is safe for use by the public in appropriate amounts.WHY MARGARINE?

MARGARINE lowers LDL-C level by 11% in adults and 9% in children when compared to butter and can be consumed by vegans.

WHY VEGETABLE OIL? VEGETABLE OIL to replace egg for vegans.

Why these substitutes?

Control Cookies

Experimental Cookies

ButterSugarEggs

Wheat flour Baking powder

MargarineStevia

Vegetable oilRice flour

Baking powder

Control Cookies Experimental Cookies

1. Experimental cookies would have a similar physical profile as compared to control cookies.

2. Experimental cookies would have similar acceptance rate as compared to control cookies.

Hypotheses:

Objective 1. To create a sugar free vegan rice cookie recipe– Use rice flour, margarine and stevia instead of wheat flour,

butter and sugarObjective 2. To measure physical properties– Measure cookies’ water activity, moisture content, lipid

profile and moisture sorption.Objective 3. To measure sensory properties– To evaluate overall acceptance of new cookies for

population.– Acceptance will be determined based on appearance, color,

overall flavor, texture, sweetness and overall liking.

Objectives:

1. What are the differences in physical properties of the experimental cookies compared to the control cookies? How would the water activity and moisture content of the

experimental cookies compare to the control cookies? Would the experimental cookies have better texture properties

than the control cookies? Would the experimental cookies have lesser fat content than

the control cookies? How would the moisture uptake of experimental cookies

compared to the control cookies?

Research Questions:

2. What are the differences in sensory properties of the experimental cookies compared to the control cookies?

How well would the appearance of the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

How well would the color of the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

How well would the overall flavor of the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

How well would the texture of the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

How well would the sweetness of the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

Overall, how well would the experimental cookie be liked compared to the control cookies?

Research Questions:

Ingredients:

Mix ingredients separately for control cookies and experimental cookies. Drop cookie dough on baking pans.Pre-heat the oven to 350 F and bake for 25-30 minutes.⁰

Control group Experimental group½ cup butter½ cup sugar1 egg1 ½ cup wheat flour ½ tsp baking powder

½ cup margarine½ cup Stevia¼ cup vegetable oil1 ¾ cup rice flour½ tsp baking powder

Methodology:

Physical Analysis

Characteristic Method

Moisture Content Oven dried at 105 C for 24 ⁰hours

Water Activity Aqua Lab Water Activity meter

Texture Hardness by Instron texture analyzer

Lipid Content Extracted using acetone

Methodology:

Instron

Sensory evaluationRecruited 14 students from UW-Stout.Appearance, color, overall flavor, texture, sweetness and overall liking were analyzed on a 9-point hedonic scale.

Statistical analysis- A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to establish the significance of differences among the mean values at the 0.05 significance. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS.

Methodology:

Physical Analysis:The results of various physical properties of cookies are shown.

Results:

0.022

0.388

Results of these studies indicated that there is a significant difference in the texture between control cookies (M=2.1096, SD=0.7362) and experimental cookies (M=2.1038, SD=0.0428); t(4)=1.874, (p=0.022).Results of these studies indicated that there is no significant difference (p>0.05) between control cookies and experimental cookies in terms of moisture content, water activity and lipid content.

Sensory Analysis: 

Control cookies had the highest ratings for all sensory parameters tested. There were significant differences (P<0.05) to the degree of which control cookies were better liked than experimental cookies.

This project forms a basis for developing new food products as there is no significant difference in the physical properties of the cookies from the statistical analysis.Making alterations in the proportion and ingredients used can improve the sensory characteristics of the cookies as the statistical analysis showed that there is significant difference with respect to the sensory characteristics between the control and experimental cookies.Cookies made from a mixture of fermented pigeon pea flour and germinated sorghum flour with aspartame at different proportions gave positive sensory results (Okafor et al., 2015)

Discussion & Conclusion :

Discussion & Conclusion :

Functional and sensory properties of cookies prepared from cassava and water chestnut flours gave positive results (Bala et al., 2015).Cookies made from cassava flour and rice flour with honey gave positive results for physical and sensory properties tested (Adeboye et al., 2015)

Small sample size of sensory panelShort time frameLimited monetary resourcesIngredient proportions were not variedUnable to include population which are vegan and/or diabetic and/or suffering from celiac disease as part of the sensory panel.

Limitations:

Future research can be focused on:– By altering the ingredients – utilizing different sweeteners

and flours.– Varying compositions of sweeteners and flours – Nutritional composition of cookies should be measured to

know the calorie content.

Further Investigation:

Bala, A., Gul, K., & Riar, C. S. (2015). Functional and sensory properties of cookies prepared from wheat flour supplemented with cassava and water chestnut flours. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 1(1), 1-7.

Okafor, G., & Omah, E. (2015). Selected Functional Properties, Proximate Composition of Flours and Sensory Characteristics of Cookies from Wheat and Millet-Pigeon Pea Flour Blends. Pakistan J. of Nutrition Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 14(9), 581-585.

Adeboye, A., S., & Bangbose, A. (2015). Effect of Honey on Selected Physical and Sensory Properties of Cookies from Cassava-Wheat Composite Flour. J Food Process Technol Journal of Food Processing & Technology, 6(7), 452-459.

Bakery Products in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/statistics-and-market-information/by-region/united-states/market-intelligence/bakery-products-in-the-united-states/?id=1410083148478#b

Trauth, E. , (2014) Is 2014 the Year of the Vegan? Retirved from: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/is-2014-the-year-of-the-vegan/http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=vegan%2C%20%2Fm%2F07_hy&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT%2B5

References:

Torbica, A., Hadnađev, M., & Hadnađev, T. D. (2012). Rice and buckwheat flour characterisation and its relation to cookie quality. Food Research International, 48(1), 277-283.

Anton, S. D., Martin, C. K., Han, H., Coulon, S., Cefalu, W. T., Geiselman, P., & Williamson, D. A. (2010). Effects of stevia, aspartame, and sucrose on food intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels. Appetite, 55(1), 37-43.

ADA (2014) What‘s The Deal With Stevia? Low-Calorie Sweeteners. Retrieved from: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/artificial-sweeteners/#sthash.m2HQXKA3.dpuf

Centers for Disease Control. (2009). Number (in Millions) of Civilian/Noninstitutionalized Persons with Diagnosed Diabetes, United States, 1980–2006. 2008. Retrived from: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/prev/national/figadults.htm

References:

: