Evaluation of the bulk sweetener D-tagatose and the high intensity sweetener Splenda as sugar replacers in cookies

Abstract

For a variety of health reasons, consumers are consuming more foods prepared with less metabolizeable sugars and artificial sweeteners. Before sugar replacers can be used in foods, their effect on food characteristics should be evaluated. This paper examines the effect of sucrose replacement by tagatose, Splenda and fructose in sugar cookies on both the rheological properties of cookie dough and physical properties of the cookies.

It was found that replacing sucrose with tagatose yielded cookie dough that was significantly harder and more chewy, but similar in adhesiveness, cohesiveness, resilience and springiness. Cookies made with tagatose had significantly greater height and lower diameter than cookies made with sucrose, resulting in a significantly lower spread ratio. Tagatose containing cookies were also harder and had a browner color than cookies made with sucrose and Splenda. Cookie dough and cookies made with Splenda had similar hardness values to cookies made with sucrose. Cookie dough made with Splenda had significantly higher values of springiness, and lower values for adhesiveness and cohesiveness than the sucrose-containing cookies. Cookies made with Splenda were similar in color and hardness to cookies made with sucrose, but showed the greatest height and smallest diameter, and consequently had a significantly lower spread ratio than cookies made with sucrose.

In a consumer acceptance test conducted with cookies baked with sucrose, tagatose, and a tagatose/sucrose mixture (1:1 w/w), the panelists best liked the sweetness of the cookies made with sucrose and the color of the cookies made with tagatose. The lowest overall acceptability was for cookies made with tagatose.

The data show that replacing sucrose with other sweeteners affects the properties and acceptability of cookies. To incorporate tagatose into cookies, blending it with sucrose gives more desirable results.