Effect of flour properties on the quality characteristics of gluten free sugar-snap cookies

The three main ingredients of cookies are wheat flour, fat and sugar. In gluten-free cookies the wheat flour must be replaced by other ingredients. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of the flour properties of different gluten-free flours on cookie quality. A variety of different gluten-free flours, including yellow maize, precooked yellow maize, buckwheat, teff and short-grain and long-grain rice flour, were employed. The flour characteristics (protein, damaged starch content, particle size, flour hydration properties and oil absorption), dough properties (texture) and cookie parameters (final diameter, spread factor, texture, colour and acceptability) were evaluated. Coarse-grained rice flours produced cookies with a larger diameter and spread factor, darker colour and lower hardness. The rest of the gluten-free cookies had a lower spread ratio and greater hardness than wheat cookies, regardless of flour particle size. We have thus established that it is possible to obtain gluten-free cookies with organoleptic acceptability similar to that of cookies made from wheat flour. Nevertheless, cookie acceptability was hardly influenced by the cereal origin and their taste.