Gluten-free cookies
Development
After identifying her ingredients, Grace systematically baked batches of cookies, modifying and refining her recipe as she went, homing in on a workable commercial formulation. The process of 'trial and error' doesn't sound too scientific but it works. It's a balancing act – too low a concentration of gluten alternatives and the cookies are crumbly, too high, and they are overly chewy. Grace also had to balance functional prerogatives with commercial ones.
The recipe was progressively refined using in-house, rather than consumer, testing. In-house sensory testing is highly expedient, and can save a lot of time and money in the development process, while also being highly accurate and exacting. "Cookie Time staff, who 'live and breathe' cookies and are exposed to quality issues all the time, are much more discerning and attuned to the subtleties involved," Lincoln Booth says.
The brief required that the cookies have a shelf life of at least three months. With preservatives off the ingredient list, Grace had to manipulate the other factors influencing freshness. Besides the ingredients themselves, packaging is a critical factor. For packaging designers, two key parameters have a big influence on shelf life: oxygen and moisture permeability. 'Accelerated shelf-life studies' – packaging a product and exposing it to controlled conditions that, within weeks, mimic months of shelf time – play a key role.
At this stage in the development process, design, advertising and marketing planning began.
Food Technologist Grace Ling
