Cereal Chem 69:120-125   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Instrumental Measurement of Cookie Hardness. II. Application to Product Quality Variables.

C. S. Gaines, A. Kassuba, P. L. Finney, and J. R. Donelson. Copyright 1992 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A probing technique was used to measure the effects of various treatments on the hardness of cookies produced by two laboratory formulations, the AACC micromethod for sugar-snap cookies and a new formula for wire-cut cookies typical of commercial products. The technique was able to quantify hardness differences associated with wheat cultivar, wheat class blending, quality of ingredients, cookie geometry, wheat test weight, kernel shriveling, crop year, and flour protein content. Higher protein content and more kernel shriveling were associated with harder cookies. Higher flour protein content resulted in harder wire- cut formula cookies (as is usually observed in commercial baking); however, sugar-snap cookies were thicker and less hard. Probing was also used to evaluate the hardness of cookies produced from two pairs of flours that were fractionated and then reconstituted with one to three fractions interchanges. Fractions that contributed positively to cookie hardness were tailings, gluten, and water-solubles. Fractions appeared to contribute to hardness in the order of their hydrophilicity.