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.
“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.” Cherie Floyd | VP of R&D | The J.M. Smucker Co.
“Baking cookies without butter and eggs is a challenge, but it is one we meet with joy,” said Ian Beert, VP of operations for Partake Foods. “Balancing our brand promise with the requirements of manufacturing means that our formulations must be exact every time, which adds a layer of complexity when integrating automation.”
Partake Foods’ team takes taste seriously, while also honoring its commitment to providing cookies that consumers with or without allergies can enjoy. The company continuously monitors product formulations using an integrated scientific approach to ensure starches and sugars interact in a way that creates a pleasing texture and taste.
Scaling up a recipe that can be efficiently machined without too many process or equipment adjustments is one of the most difficult aspects of aligning innovation with operations. A “free-from” recipe requires the same scientific approach applied to traditional baking, and maintaining consistency during production is essential.
“Each day, our focus is consistency from batch to batch,” Beert explained. “The added dynamic in baking is changes in seasons, humidity and temperature in the room. Small adjustments need to be made, and there is often no substitute for human intuition and touch. We are proud of our operators’ attention to detail and care for the product, as well as the steps we have made to add scale and automation to our overall process.”
Winston-Salem, NC-based Dewey’s Bakery offers an elevated cookie with clean ingredients. The company uses only premium, unadulterated chocolate that is fully tempered for its Dewzies layered sandwich cookies. From an equipment standpoint, the fully automated tempering tank used to process the chocolate has been a game changer in terms of increasing production.
“It is all about the crystallization of the chocolate,” said Elizabeth Eynon-Way, senior director of innovation at Dewey’s Bakery. “For our Dewzies, we want to achieve that crisp, hard snap, like a chocolate bar. To effectively put it on the sandwich cookie, the chocolate must be stable enough to make the product work using a blend of temperature and the actual viscosity of the chocolate.”
This story has been adapted from the October | Q4 2024 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
