Optimization of gluten-free cookie formulation containing rice flour, brown rice germ, peanut and flaxseed

Cookies are important sweets that are the most desirable products of the family of sweets for people of all ages due to their long shelf life and low production cost. Eliminating sugar, replacing unsaturated fats and producing a gluten-free product can help improving the health level of society, and in this way, cookies can be used as a product to deliver essential nutrients to the body of people with celiac disease.

In order to carry out this project, gluten-free cookie treatment was performed based on the cookie formulation and based on the highest response level. Independent variables included peanut flour (5 to 15%), rice flour (65 to 90%), brown rice sprout flour (5 to 15%) and flaxseed powder (0 to 3%) and response variables included; water activity, hardness, expanding ratio and overall acceptability were considered. The functional relationship between the parameters affecting the formulation of gluten-free cookies was determined using the experimental design of Box-Benken.

In this study, the aim of optimization is to achieve the highest percentage of expanding ratio, hardness and overall acceptability, as well as reducing the amount of water activity, which are important quality indicators of cookies. Based on the selected models, the optimal formulation selected by the software was introduced including 88.23% rice flour, 15% brown rice sprouts, 1.55% flaxseed and 11.45% peanuts. Based on the results, with the increase of all 4 independent factors, the amount of expandability, the amount of stiffness and overall acceptance increased and the amount of water activity decreased. In general, high quality cookies have good hardness, high expanding ratio, less irregular appearance, brown color, attractive appearance and pleasant flavor.

The combined use of these compounds in appropriate concentrations can be used as a gluten-free product in addition to increasing the hardness and width ratio, without adversely affecting the sensory properties of the cookie, with beneficial nutritional and health properties, which can be significantly useful for the health of people with celiac disease.