A comparison of palm-based and lard shortenings on cookie dough properties and cookies quality

A study was carried out to compare the cookie dough and cookie quality made from formulated palm-based shortenings (FPS) with lard shortening (LS). Two TM/ternary mixtures [palm oil (PO)/palm stearin (PS)/soybean oil (SBO)] (TM-1, 38:5:57 and TM-2, 40:5:55) and two QM/quaternary mixtures [palm oil (PO)/palm stearin (PS)/ soybean oil (SBO)/cocoa butter (CB)] (QM-1, 38:5:52:5 and QM-2, 32:5:54:9) were prepared in different ratios. The cookie dough made from FPS and LS were compared in terms of their consistency, elasticity, hardness and adhesiveness. Meanwhile, the cookie made from formulated FPS and LS were compared in term of their width, thickness, spread ratio, colour (L*,a*,b*), hardness and fracturability. LS had a higher dough consistency (333 BU) compared to FPS which is in the range of 280-291 BU. In the meantime, LS also had a higher dough elasticity (63 BU) compared to FPS (47-52 BU). The cookie dough made from QM-1 had the highest value of hardness (20.65 N). Interestingly, TM-1 (15.99 N) was found to display a dough hardness value somewhat close to that of LS (15.10 N). From this study, none of FPS was found to have adhesiveness value closely similar to that of LS. The width, thickness, spread factor and colour (L* value) of cookie made from FPS were found to be compatible to that of LS. Cookie containing TM-1 (41.09 N) was found to have hardness value closely similar to that of cookie made from LS (40.75 N). On the other hand, cookie made from LS (10.06 N) had the highest fracturability value compared to cookie made from FPS (ranging from 7.48 to 8.90 N)