KANSAS CITY, MO — Cookies, whether they’re crispy or chewy, evoke nostalgia and remain a favorite sweet treat. Yet, cookies made with “free-from” formulations and premium ingredients also resonate with health-conscious consumers looking for permissible indulgence.
Here’s how cookie manufacturers balance the indulgence and better-for-you trends.
Producers are creating new bakery products with functional, low-fat and sugar-free ingredients to reach a wider consumer base, according to a recent Mordor Intelligence cookie industry report. Responding to growing interest in less sugar, Burlington, Ontario-based Voortman Bakery innovated with its 25% less sugar and zero sugar cookie products, which is not as easy as it seems.
“For us, taste is king, and when it comes to innovation, we focus on balancing ingredients in the right way to produce a delicious product,” said Cherie Floyd, VP of R&D for The J.M. Smucker Co., which owns the Voortman brand. “Sugar has a number of functional properties, and our team comes together with our collective wisdom and technical expertise to figure out how to effectively replace sugar and rebalance the flavors in a way that does not diminish the eating experience.”
Sugar not only sweetens cookies, but it also impacts texture, moisture, browning reactions, shelf life and dough machinability. It cannot be simply substituted without careful consideration. Determining which ingredients can be used in place of sugar and how to formulate them requires a combination of food science and culinary skill.
“When taking sugar out, we must still make sure the product has great taste and texture, so we use a blend of sweeteners and other ingredients to replace the functional properties of sugar within the cookie,” Floyd explained.
The appeal of gluten-free cookies, as well as those free from preservatives and artificial ingredients, is also growing, according to Modor’s data. New York-based Partake Foods’ cookies leverage consumer interest in gluten- and allergen-free options, but producing “free-from” baked goods can hamper production capabilities.
