Quality properties and bioactive compounds of reduced-fat cookies with bee pollen

Abstract

Functional foods are among the new trends in gastronomy. In fact, this trend should actually be associated with the inclusion of functional foods in menus and the understanding of their importance in terms of culinary science and perspective. Bee pollen (BP) has been used as a dietary supplement and culinary ingredient for improving health since ancient times. The present study was aimed to evaluate BP in different proportions (5%, 10%, and 15%) in the production of reduced-fat cookies as a trendy product for food and culinary science. The physico-chemical properties, bioactive compounds (total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (AC), bio-accessibility of TPC-AC, phenolic compounds, carotenoid content), and sensory evaluation of the cookies were analyzed. With the addition of BP moisture, ash, fat, protein content, spread ratio, a*, b* values of the cookies increased, while carbohydrate content, hardness, and L* values decreased. While the TPC of the fortified cookies ranged from 352.10403.34 mg/100g, the TPC of the control cookie was determined as 331.16 mg/100 g. The antioxidant capacity of cookies varies between 8.82-87.61 and 124.02-151.29 mu mole Trolox/g according to ABTS and DPPH method, respectively. According to the results, BP has positive effects on the quality criteria while improving the functional properties of cookies.