The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the nutritional, physical and sensory characteristics of a cookie made with partial replacement of the wheat flour by quinoa flour, and to analyze the nutritional characteristics of the wheat and quinoa flours. Formulations were drawn up of a biscuit with 100% of wheat flour and with replacement of the wheat flour by quinoa flour at concentrations of 10%, 20% and 30%. The cookies were evaluated with respect to their chemical, physical and texture parameters and sensory attributes, and the flours for their proximate composition. The attributes of diameter, thickness, spreading factor, specific volume, hardness and yield were quite similar between the standard cookie and the formulations with quinoa flour, indicating that the quinoa flour was well incorporated into the biscuit dough. As the concentration increased from 10 to 30% of quinoa flour, the hardness of the cookies decreased, and the score in the acceptability test for all the attributes ranged between six and seven. There was no difference between the formulations showing that the addition of up to 30% quinoa flour did not change the sensory characteristics of the cookies. Thus, the partial replacement of wheat flour by quinoa flour increased the nutritional value of the cookies. The chemical composition of the flours showed that the quinoa flour presented higher protein, fat, fibre and ash contents than the wheat flour.
Cookies; Quinoa flour; Nutritional value; Sensory attributes
