Nutritional and functional characterization of date pulp-fortified cookies

Date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a sweet fruit with high antioxidant activity due to the presence of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids. Similarly, wheat flour is a rich source of dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and different phytochemicals, providing many health benefits. Cookies were prepared from wheat flour and date paste (as a sugar substitute) in different proportions (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%). Cookies were analyzed for proximate composition (moisture, crude protein, crude fiber, crude fat, mineral, and ash content), physical properties (diameter, texture, color, and spread ratio), antioxidant activity (DPPH), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC). The mean results from all the experiments indicated that the addition of date pulp in cookies had a highly significant (p < 0.05) effect on moisture (8-16%), protein (14-15%), fiber (2-10%) and ash content (1-5%) of cookies. The TPC, TFC and DPPH values in CFD5 were 325 mg GAE/100 g, 164.2 QE/100 g and 22 mg GAE/100 g, respectively. Likewise, the physical properties of cookies produced showed that the addition of date pulp in cookies had a highly significant effect on the thickness (0.4-0.7 cm), diameter (2.20-3.37 cm), bulk density (4-6.42 g) and spread ratio (4.04-4.8) of cookies. Furthermore, the sensory evaluation of date pulp-fortified cookies presented higher scores and overall acceptability than the control treatment. Overall, incorporating date palm pulp in cookies contributed to higher antioxidant potential and improved the physicochemical profile and aroma and texture properties; however, higher amounts of date palm pulp may have contributed to more color, affecting the sensory profile parameters.