TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a process of producing a package comprising non-gelatinized cookie dough pieces, said process comprising:

• mixing flour, sugar, water and fat in an extruder to produce a cookie dough;

• expelling one or more strands of cookie dough from the extruder;

• cutting the one or more strands of cookie dough into cookie dough pieces;

• collecting the cookie dough pieces;

• introducing a number of the collected cookie dough pieces into a package; and

• closing the package.

The present process enables the continuous production of packaged cookie dough pieces that do not require frozen distribution and storage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is a popular ice cream flavor in which unbaked chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough are embedded in vanilla flavored ice cream.

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is said to have originated in 1984 at the first Ben & Jerry's "scoop shop" in Burlington, Vermont, from an anonymous suggestion on their flavor suggestion board. In 1991 , Ben & Jerry's began selling pints of the flavor which quickly became popular with consumers. By 1992, chocolate chip cookie dough accounted for 20 percent of the company's total ice cream sales, and other ice cream manufacturers started making their own versions of the flavor.

Because of the health risks associated with the consumption of raw cookie dough, the cookie dough used in cookie dough ice cream is pasteurized and distributed in frozen form before being mixed with ice cream. It would be highly advantageous if cookie dough could be provided in a form that does not require frozen distribution and storage, and that can be dosed easily during production of the cookie dough ice cream.

WO 90/15540 describes a method for the production of cookies comprising: (a) heating ingredients comprising flour, and shortening or fat in a cooker extruder to form a heat treated mass,

(b) reducing the temperature of said heat treated mass,

(c) admixing water with the heat treated mass to obtain a substantially homogeneous cookie dough-like mixture having a temperature of 100-212°F (38-100°C),

(d) forming the dough-like mixture into pieces, and

(e) leavening the pieces.

Heating in the cooker extruder is used to reduce post extrusion baking time and to promote Maillard browning and flavour development.

US 5,015,489 describes a method for producing cookies comprising:

(a) forming a substantially homogeneous dough-like mixture in a cooker extruder by heating ingredients comprising at least one flour and shortening or fat to a temperature of at least about 150°F under conditions to prevent substantial starch gelatinization,

(b) extruding the dough-like mixture,

(c) forming the extrudate into pieces, and

(d) leavening the pieces by subjecting them to post extrusion heating to obtain a crumb-like structure.

US 5,079,012 describes a method for the continuous production of a shelf-stable, unleavened cookie composition, said method comprising:

(a) admixing ingredients comprising flour, at least one sugar, and shortening or fat in a cooker extruder,

(b) heating ingredients comprising flour and shortening or fat in the extruder while continuously mixing at a temperature of at least 150°F (65.6°C) to promote browning and to form a heat treated, unleavened cookie composition, and

(c) extruding the unleavened cookie composition, wherein the unleavened cookie has a water activity of less than 0.7, and wherein the extruded cookie composition is leavenable by heating to a crumb-like structure.

GB 2258383 describes a low water activity refrigerated cookie dough composition comprising coloured confectionery inclusions, e.g. candy coated chocolates. The dough composition has a water activity of not more than 0.75. The dough composition does not suffer from colour bleeding during refrigerated storage. Example 1 describes a dough having the following composition: wt.%

Flour 30.528

Water 3.214

Sugars (sucrose + molasses + corn syrup) 32.312

Fat (shortening + soybean oil) 15.421

Egg yolk solids 0.411

Soda 0.392

Other dough ingredients 1 .056

Candy pieces 16.666

US 2008/044542 describes a ready-to-eat, freezable cookie dough consisting of:

• one or more flours;

• one or more sugars;

• butter;

• water;

• chocolate chips;

• vanilla extract; and

• salt.

US 2016/120191 describes a method of manufacturing a raw dough product, the method comprising:

• combining rice flour, potato starch, a starch selected from the group consisting of tapioca starch, corn starch and combinations thereof, shortening, sucrose and water;

• forming a raw dough product; and

• packaging the raw dough product, wherein the raw dough product has a water activity of 0.82 or less.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventors have developed a process of producing a package comprising non-gelatinized cookie dough pieces that can suitably be distributed and stored under ambient or refrigerated conditions. The process utilizes an extruder to mix the cookie dough ingredients and to produce one or more strands of extruded cookie dough that is cut into cookie dough pieces, followed by packaging of these cookie dough pieces. In order to ensure that the cookie dough pieces retain a chewy texture, the temperature of the cookie dough within the extruder is kept below the starch gelatinization temperature. More particularly, the present invention provides a process of producing a package comprising non-gelatinized cookie dough pieces, said process comprising:

• introducing 100 parts by weight of farinaceous flour, 40-130 parts by weight of sugar, 15- 50 parts by weight of water and 20-70 parts by weight of fat into an extruder;

• mixing the flour, sugar, water and fat in the extruder to produce a cookie dough;

• expelling one or more strands of cookie dough from the extruder;

• cutting the one or more strands of cookie dough into cookie dough pieces;

• collecting the cookie dough pieces;

• introducing a number of the collected cookie dough pieces into a package; and

• closing the package; wherein the material temperature within the extruder is kept below 110°C and wherein, following the introduction of flour and water into the extruder, the temperature of the cookie dough within the extruder is kept below the starch gelatinization temperature.

Besides offering the advantage of not requiring freezing, frozen distribution and frozen storage, the packaged cookie dough pieces obtained by the present process also provide the benefit that they do not need to be thawed before being applied in e.g. the production of cookie dough ice cream.

Another aspect of the invention is a packaged cookie dough product comprising a sealed package holding a plurality of cookie dough pieces, the cookie dough pieces being obtained by the extrusion process of present invention, having a piece weight of 0.2 to 100 grams and comprising 80-100 wt.% of non-gelatinized cookie dough and 0-20 wt.% of pieces of confectionery, the non-gelatinized cookie dough comprising:

• 32-40 wt.% farinaceous flour;

• 8-15 wt.% water;

• 30-40 wt.% sugar;

• 10-20 wt.% fat; wherein the non-gelatinized cookie dough has a microbial count of not more than 50,000 cfu/gram and wherein the pieces of confectionery, if present, are homogenously distributed throughout the cookie dough pieces. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the invention relates to a process of producing a package comprising nongelatinized cookie dough pieces, said process comprising:

• introducing 100 parts by weight of farinaceous flour, 40-130 parts by weight of sugar, 15- 50 parts by weight of water and 20-70 parts by weight of fat into an extruder;

• mixing the flour, sugar, water and fat in the extruder to produce a cookie dough;

• expelling one or more strands of cookie dough from the extruder;

• cutting the one or more strands of cookie dough into cookie dough pieces;

• collecting the cookie dough pieces;

• introducing a number of the collected cookie dough pieces into a package; and

• closing the package; wherein the material temperature within the extruder is kept below 110°C and wherein, following the introduction of flour and water into the extruder, the temperature of the cookie dough within the extruder is kept below the starch gelatinization temperature.

The term “non-gelatinized cookie dough” as used herein refers to a cookie dough in which the farinaceous flour component does not contain gelatinized starch.

The term “farinaceous flour” as used herein refers to a ground or milled plant material that is rich in starch.

The term “sugar” as used herein refers to carbohydrates selected from disaccharides, monosaccharides and combinations thereof.

The term “fat” as used herein refers to glycerides, notably glycerides selected from triglycerides, diglycerides, monoglycerides, phosphoglycerides and combinations thereof. Unless indicated otherwise, at ambient temperature the fat may contain or consist of solid fat or it may be totally liquid.

The terminology “material temperature within the extruder” refers to the temperature of the mass consisting of one or more dough ingredients at any stage of transportation of that mass through the extruder. Since dough ingredients may be introduced sequentially into the extruder, the composition of the mass may change as it is transported through the extruder. The term “starch gelatinization temperature” as used herein refers to the gelatinization temperature of the starch that is contained in the farinaceous flour. The starch gelatinization temperature may suitably be determined by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

The farinaceous flour that is employed in the present process, is preferably selected from wheat flour, corn flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, quinoa flour, potato flour, corn flour, amaranth flour, arrowroot flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, sweet potato flour, lentil flour, bean flour, soy flour, barley flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, oat flour, rye flour and combinations thereof, more preferably the farinaceous flour is selected from wheat flour, oat flour, rye flour and combinations thereof, most preferably the farinaceous flour is wheat flour.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the farinaceous flour employed in the process has been pretreated to reduce the microbial count. Preferably, this pre-treatment comprises heating the farinaceous flour to a temperature of at least 60°C, more preferably to a temperature in the range of 65°C to 150°C, most preferably to a temperature in the range of 70°C to 120°C.

The aforementioned pre-treatment preferably comprises contacting of the farinaceous flour with hot air, more preferably hot air having a temperature in excess of 100°C.

The farinaceous flour that is introduced in the extruder preferably has a microbial count of not more than 500,000 cfu/gram, more preferably of not more than 200,000 cfu/gram, most preferably of not more than 100,000 cfu/gram.

The water content of the farinaceous flour preferably is in the range of 2-8 wt.%, more preferably in the range of 3-7 wt.% and most preferably in the range of 4-6 wt.%.

Preferably, before the farinaceous flour is introduced into the extruder, it is mixed with sugar and optionally other dry ingredients to form a dry mix. Examples of other dry ingredients that may be mixed into the dry mix include salt, leavening agents, emulsifiers, egg powder, spices, flavouring and combinations thereof.

Preferably 60-120 parts by weight of sugar, more preferably 75-115 parts by weight of sugar, most preferably 90-110 parts by weight of sugar are introduced into the extruder.

Preferably, the sugar employed in the present process is selected from sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose and combinations thereof. Most preferably, the sugar employed is sucrose. It is noted that the sugar may be introduced after having been blended with other ingredients of cookie dough.

Preferably 18-44 parts by weight of water, more preferably 21-38 parts by weight of water, most preferably 24-32 parts by weight of water are introduced into the extruder.

Preferably, the water is introduced into the extruder downstream of where the farinaceous flour is introduced.

Preferably 26-63 parts by weight of fat, more preferably 32-55 parts by weight of fat, most preferably 38-48 parts by weight of fat is introduced into the extruder.

Preferably, the fat is introduced into the extruder together with the water or downstream of where the water is introduced, more preferably, the fat is introduced into the extruder downstream of where the water is introduced. Even more preferably, the fat is introduced into the extruder downstream of where the water is introduced and the water is introduced into the extruder downstream of where the farinaceous flour is introduced.

The fat that is employed in the present process, preferably contains at least 75 wt.%, more preferably at least 85 wt.% and most preferably at least 90 wt.% triglycerides.

Preferably the fat comprises one or more fats selected from milk fat, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, maize oil, olive oil, fractions of these fats and hydrogenated versions of these fats.

The fat preferably has a solid fat content at 20°C (N20) of at least 10%, more preferably the fat has a solid fat content at 20°C (N20) of 12-50%, most preferably the fat has a solid fat content at 20°C (N20) of 16-30%.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the process comprises introducing 0.5-60 parts by weight of pieces of confectionery into the extruder downstream of where the farinaceous flour, sugar, water and fat are introduced to produce a cookie dough containing confectionery inclusions. More preferably, 1-30 parts by weight of pieces of confectionery, most preferably 2-20 parts by weight of pieces of confectionery are introduced.

The pieces of confectionery that are optionally introduced into the extruder, preferably contain at least 80 wt.% of one or more components selected from chocolate, candy, fruit, nuts, sugar nibs, and baked cookie. According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the pieces of confectionery are chocolate pieces.

In the present process, besides farinaceous flour, sugar, water, fat and the optional pieces of confectionary one or more other ingredients may be introduced into the extruder. Preferably no more than 40 parts by weight, more preferably not more than 20 parts by weight of these one or more other ingredients are introduced into the extruder.

The material temperature within the extruder is preferably kept below 90°C, more preferably the material temperature within the extruder is kept below 75°C, most preferably the material temperature within the extruder is kept between 10 °C and 60 °C.

Following the introduction of flour and water into the extruder, the temperature of the dough with the extruder is preferably kept below 70°C, more preferably below 60°C and most preferably below 50°C.

The extruder employed in the present process is preferably a single or double screw extruder, more preferably the extruder is a twin screw extruder.

The extruder preferably extrudes at least 5 kg/h of cookie dough, more preferably at least 20 kg/h of cookie dough, most preferably at least 50-100,000 kg/h of cookie dough.

Preferably, the specific mechanical energy applied during extrusion is 5-30 Wh/kg, more preferably the specific mechanical energy applied during extrusion is 7.5-25 Wh/kg, most preferably the specific mechanical energy applied during extrusion is 10-20 Wh/kg.

The extruder preferably has a length (L) to diameter (D) ratio between of at least 10, more preferably the L/D ratio is between 15 and 300, most preferably the L/D ratio is between 20 and 200.

Preferably, the cookie dough is expelled from the extruder in the form of one or more strands, each having an average diameter between 1-100 mm, more preferably between 1.5-60 mm and most preferably between 2-50 mm.

The cookie dough pieces obtained by cutting the one or more strands of cookie dough preferably have a piece weight of 0.1 to 100 grams, more preferably a piece weight of 0.2to 80 grams, most preferably a piece weight of 0.2 to 60 grams. The cookie dough pieces preferably have a water activity of less than 0.9 at 25°C, more preferably the cookie dough pieces have a water activity in the range of 0.6-0.8 at 25°C.

Preferably, the cookie dough pieces have a density of 0.9-1.4g/cm ³ , more preferably a density of 0.95-1.35 g/cm ³ , most preferably a density of 1.0-1.3 g/cm ³ .

The cookie dough in the cookie dough pieces preferably has a microbial count of less than 50,000 cfu/gram, more preferably a microbial count of less than 10,000 cfu/gram, most preferably a microbial count of less than 5,000 cfu/gram.

The cookie dough pieces preferably have a microbial count of less than 50,000 cfu/gram, more preferably a microbial count of less than 10,000 cfu/gram, most preferably a microbial count of less than 5,000 cfu/gram.

Preferably, at least 100 g of the collected cookie dough pieces are introduced into a single package, more preferably at least 1 kg of the collected cookie dough pieces, most preferably 2-100 kg of the collected cookie dough pieces are introduced into the package.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the closed package is kept at a temperature of at least 0 °C, more preferably at a temperature of 1-30 °C and most preferably at a temperature of 3-25 °C for at least 7 days, more preferably for at least 10 days and most preferably for 14-400 days before being opened.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a process of preparing a food product, said process comprising a process of producing a package comprising non-gelatinized cookie dough pieces as described herein before, followed by the following steps:

• removing the cookie dough pieces from the package; and

• combining the cookie dough pieces with one or more other food ingredients.

In one advantageous embodiment, the combining of the cookie dough pieces with one or more food ingredients comprises mixing the cookie dough pieces with said one or more food ingredients to produce a food product selected from frozen confectionary, desserts and fillings.

In another advantageous embodiment, the combining of the cookie dough pieces with one or more food ingredients comprises coating the cookie dough pieces with a coating composition comprising chocolate and/or sugar. In the aforementioned embodiment, the package containing the cookie dough pieces is preferably kept at a temperature of more than 0°C, more preferably at a temperature of 2 to 30°C , most preferably at a temperature of 3 to 20°C , for at least 7 days, more preferably for at least 10 days, most preferably for 14 to 400 days, prior to removal of the dough pieces from the package.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a packaged cookie dough product comprising a sealed package holding a plurality of cookie dough pieces, the cookie dough pieces being obtained by the extrusion process described herein before, having a piece weight of 0.2 to 100 grams and comprising 80-100 wt.% of non-gelatinized cookie dough and 0-20 wt.% of pieces of confectionery, the non-gelatinized cookie dough comprising:

• 32-40 wt.% farinaceous flour;

• 8-15 wt.% water;

• 30-40 wt.% sugar;

• 10-20 wt.% fat; wherein the non-gelatinized cookie dough has a microbial count of not more than 50,000 cfu/gram and wherein the pieces of confectionery, if present, are homogenously distributed throughout the cookie dough pieces.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the cookie dough has a microbial count of less than 20,000 cfu/gram, more preferably a microbial count of less than 10,000 cfu/gram, most preferably a microbial count of less than 5,000 cfu/gram.

The cookie dough pieces in the packaged cookie dough product are preferably cookie dough pieces as described herein before.

The sealed package preferably holds at least 0.1 kg of the cookie dough pieces, more preferably the sealed package holds 1-200 kg of the cookie dough pieces, most preferably the sealed package holds 2-100 kg of the cookie dough pieces.

The cookie dough pieces preferably comprise 85-100 wt.% of non-gelatinized cookie dough, more preferably 88-99.7 wt.% of non-gelatinized cookie dough, most preferably 90-99 wt.% of non-gelatinized cookie dough.

The cookie dough in the cookie dough pieces preferably comprises 33-39 wt.% farinaceous flour, preferably 34-38 wt.% of farinaceous flour. The farinaceous flour in the cookie dough pieces is preferably selected from wheat flour, corn flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, quinoa flour, potato flour, corn flour, amaranth flour, arrowroot flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, sweet potato flour, lentil flour, bean flour, soy flour, barley flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, oat flour, rye flour and combinations thereof, more preferably the farinaceous flour is selected from wheat flour, oat flour, rye flour and combinations thereof, most preferably the farinaceous flour is wheat flour.

The cookie dough in the cookie dough pieces preferably comprises 9-14 wt.% water, preferably 10-13 wt.% water.

The cookie dough in the cookie dough pieces preferably comprises 31-39 wt.% sugar, preferably 32-38 wt.% sugar.

The cookie dough in the cookie dough pieces comprises 11-19 wt.% fat, more preferably 12- 18 wt.% fat. The fat in the cookie dough preferably is a fat as specified herein before.

Preferably, the combination of farinaceous flour, water, sugar and fat constitutes at least 90 wt.%, more preferably at least 95 wt.% of the cookie dough.

The cookie dough pieces preferably comprise 0-15 wt.% of pieces of confectionery, more preferably 0.3-12 wt.% of pieces of confectionery, most preferably 1-10 wt.% of pieces of confectionery.

The pieces of confectionery in the cookie dough pieces, preferably contain at least 80 wt.% of one or more components selected from chocolate, candy, fruit, nuts, sugar nibs, and baked cookie. According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the pieces of confectionery are chocolate pieces.

The invention is further illustrated by the following non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLES

Example 1

Cookie dough pieces according to the present invention were prepared on the basis of the recipe that is shown in Table 1 . Table 1

Moisture content = 5 wt.%, microbial count = 20,000 cfu/g

The dough pieces were prepared using a twin screw extruder. The extruder had a screw diameter of 43 mm, an L/D of 36 and a die comprising 3 circular openings with a diameter of 9 mm. The extruder was divided in 8 stages of equal length.

A premix of all the dry dough ingredients, except for the butter fat was introduced in the first extrusion stage. Water was introduced at the beginning of the third extrusion stage and the butter fat at the end of that same stage. The chocolate chips were introduced at the seventh stage.

The extruder was operated at a throughput of 400 kg/h and a specific mechanical energy of 0.013 kWh/kg. The maximum material temperature observed in the extruder was 45°C.

The strand of dough that was expelled through the die was cut into dough pieces by a rotating cutter. The dough pieces had an average weight of approximately 1.0 grams. The dough pieces were collected in a bag which was subsequently sealed. Figure 1 shows an image of the cut dough pieces.

Analyses of the dough pieces showed that the water content was 10.95 wt.% and that the water activity was 0.7 at 25°C.

The packaged dough pieces had a shelf-life at 20°C of more than 120 days. Comparative Example A

Example 1 was repeated, except that the dough ingredients were mixed together in a Spiral mixer. The dough so obtained was extremely crumbly, as is evident from Figure 2. This crumbliness could not be removed by increasing the kneading time and/or the rotation speed of the hook.

Sensory evaluation showed that the dough obtained from the Spiral mixer was dryer and more gritty (due to sugar crystals) than the dough pieces obtained from the extruder.