Nutritional and Microbial Assessment of Cookies Made from Compounded Flours

Abstract

This study utilized composite flour from wheat, coconut shell and tiger nut to produce cookies in order to improve the nutrient contents of cookies and encourage the use of compounded flour. Appropriate quantity of the different blends of compounded flour and wheat were mixed with other ingredients to produce cookies. Microbial, organoleptic and nutritional assessments were carried out on the flour and cookies. The sensory evaluation shows the cookies produced were all acceptable in terms of texture, taste and acceptability in general. The 100% wheat flour cookies were appraised to be the best in terms of appearance and texture while 100% tiger nut flour cookies were most preferred in terms of crumbliness and general acceptability. Furthermore, 90:10 (wheat: Coconut Shell) cookies were most preferred in terms of taste. The organisms isolated were characterized and identified to be Bacillus alvei, Bacillus brevis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aeromonas hydrophila and Staphylococcus aureus. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was found to be the most occurring isolate. The total viable and total fungal counts vary from 1.0 x 101 to 2.7 x 101 and 1.0 x 101 to 4.0 x 101 CFU/g respectively. Enterobacteriaceae was not detected in any of the samples. The proximate composition of the cookies were from 4.38 to 12.03, 2.10 to 20.10, 22.10 to 32.00, 3.00 to 5.00 and 1.20 to 3.10% for total crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract, moisture and total ash contents respectively. Conclusively, given the nutritional value and microbial quality of the cookies, the use of the composite flours is recommended which in return will cause a reduction in total reliance on wheat flour.