Mitigation of acrylamide formation in cookies by using Maillard reaction products as recipe modifier in a combined partial conventional baking and radio frequency post-baking process

This study aimed to mitigate acrylamide formation in cookies by lowering thermal energy input along with certain recipe modifications. Lowering temperature required longer cooking times as expected in order to achieve desired final moisture content. To shorten cooking time, conventional baking was combined with radio frequency post-baking process. Lack of development of surface browning in cookies during lower-temperature baking could be overcome by adding the Maillard reaction products (MRP) into dough. The MRP used to modify dough was prepared by heating a binary mixture of arginine and glucose at 100 °C for 6 h or by overbaking thin dough-layered disks. In comparison with control cookie baked at 205 °C for 11 min, combined conventional baking (205 °C for 8 min) and radio frequency post-drying process (45 s) decreased acrylamide formation in biscuits by up to 50 %. The use of Maillard reaction products to improve the visual acceptability of cookies to the consumer may have applications in food industry.