Baking & Snack - April 2020 - 80

COOKIE TECHNOLOGY

appeal while intact, but they can also discolor dough.
"Inclusions can break, mark the dough and compromise not just the appeal but even the taste," said Franco
Fusari, commercial director and co-owner, Minipan.
"Moreover, products with broken inclusions may not
pass the quality check and get wasted, becoming both an
ethical and economic problem."
To preserve these inclusions and their appeal in
gourmet cookies, bakers can choose equipment and
processing strategies that prevent damage and deliver
a picture-perfect product.

Pain points for premium inclusions

Control over the feed
rollers speed and gap
on a wirecutter allows
bakers to accommodate
and protect larger
types of inclusions.
Spooner Vicars

The mixer and portioning equipment pose the biggest
threats to inclusions during cookie processing. In the
mixer, inclusions can be crushed and discolor a dough.
At the wirecutter or depositor, inclusions can get lost,
cut or broken into pieces.
The easiest fix at the mixer is to time the addition
of inclusions correctly. These chunks, nuts and chips
shouldn't be added until the end and only mixed until even dispersion. Operators should limit the inclusion mix time cycle to prevent inclusion damage and
distortion.
"Entry time of the inclusions into the ingredient mixing cycle is extremely important as this ensures the inclusion's size, shape and integrity are maintained by not
overworking the inclusions by the mixer beater action
and dough temperature," said Andy Green, technical
engineering manager, Spooner Vicars.
He also asserted that Spooner Vicars'

The cookie
category
experienced
3.3% growth in
2019 at $9 billion.

OREO'S still lead the
category with $794 million
in sales and 13.3% growth.

TATE'S BAKE SHOP

experienced 18% growth in 2019.
IRI, 52 weeks ending Dec. 29, 2019)

GOOD DESIGN IS CRITICAL
FOR PROTECTING
INCLUSIONS WHEN
COOKIE DOUGH IS
DIVIDED INTO PUCKS.
Twin Helical Beater with Fixed Sprag ensures the inclusions are dispersed quickly, and evenly throughout the
dough, which will pay off later in regards to product
piece weight.
Portioning equipment - wirecutters and depositors
- is the next hurdle inclusions must clear.
"Dividing or forming the cookie itself, there's a lot of
equipment out there that uses rollers that have teeth on
them to sheet out the cookie or extruders that are pushing or pumping the cookie," said John Giacoio, vice president, sales, Rheon USA. "Those points would also damage particulates or raise the temperature of the dough."
Temperature increases can be problematic because it
melts not only chocolate but also the butter that controls
cookie spread in the oven. Preserving large inclusions,
however, often comes down to their size.
"Traditional confectionery depositor gears often limit
the size of particulates that can be used as larger particulates
may be crushed or damaged by the gears," said Jon Cabral,
director of advertising and marketing, Erika Record.

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Baking & Snack - April 2020

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