Arianna Adorno-Williams
Nutrition and Dietetics Major
Oatmeal Cookies: Diabetic Friendly?
Here is a group project I really enjoyed doing in my Experimental Food Study class.
For my Experimental Food Study class we had an end of the year group experiment of our own to conduct. Our group chose the use of different forms of sweetening agents in oatmeal cookies. Our project was inspired by an article “The glycemic and peak incremental indices of honey, sucrose and glucose in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus”
Because one of our members was lactose intolerant we substituted the butter for vegan butter. For one of the recipes we substituted half of the vegan butter for pumpkin puree which I think is a pretty innovative way to use pumpkin puree.
The first batch was the control batch—the original oatmeal cookie recipes with only the vegan butter substitution. The second batch replaced all of the sugar and dairy butter with honey and pumpkin purée. The third batch replaced 70% of the sugar with honey, half the dairy butter with vegan butter, and the other half with pumpkin butter
On the fourth week, all three cookie test batches were made and subjectively evaluated by thirteen people- a combination of students and a random group of test subjects. Nine out of thirteen test subjects favored the control, three favored the 70% honey and half-pumpkin puree replacement, one said they like both the control and the 70% honey and half-pumpkin puree replacement. No one favored the fully substituted batch.
Despite the majority of participants preferring the control which was the original recipe using only sucrose our group actually really liked the 70% honey and half pumpkin puree replacement. We all felt the flavor was nuttier
We agreed with the participants on the full replacement. It wasn’t our favorite but The full replacement recipe we decided was a great recipe to add to the top of a yogurt snack. Not to mention a great way get in some squash.
