Study of the technological effects of replacing sugar with polyols in whole-wheat biscuits

The effects of sugar substitution on texture, appearance and structure demonstrate the importance of its functions within the biscuit. However, replacing sugars in biscuits is still essential to reduce sugar consumption in the population. This study examined the effects of completely replacing sucrose with polyols in biscuits. The morphological, textural and visual characteristics and sensory properties were studied. Substitution with polyols resulted in differences in dough viscosity, cookie size, water activity, texture, colour and sensory properties. Of all the polyols, sorbitol produced biscuits with good structural parameters suitable for biscuits (large diameter with less thickness and more diffusion). All disaccharides (isomaltitol, trehalose and maltitol) produced biscuits with a soft texture compared to monosaccharides (xylitol, sorbitol and erythritol). The polyol-based biscuits had water activity and moisture content below the thresholds (<0.6 and 10%, respectively). Since all the biscuits showed values below the acceptability threshold, it can be concluded that the replacement of sucrose with polyols does not lead to a consistent product deterioration from the point of view of microbiological safety. All of the monosaccharides produced darker and redder biscuits than the polyol disaccharides and sucrose. Thanks to xylitol's relative sweetness, similar to sucrose, many consumers preferred xylitol sucrose biscuits in terms of taste, sweetness, and overall liking and expressed a willingness to buy. Isomaltitol also scored high in overall preference, and consumers have also expressed interest in purchasing isomaltitol biscuits due to their soft texture. Consumers rated fructose low in most parameters because it produced dark, hard cookies with a burnt aroma. Additionally, due to its low solubility, erythritol produced compact and hard biscuits, as confirmed by many consumers, and received low scores during sensorial evaluation.