Cookies have high sugar and fat levels and, at the same time,
low water levels (1–5%). Cookie dough constituents largely influence
dough making and handling, cookie baking, and the quality
of the resulting product (Pareyt and Delcour, 2008).
Sucrose is the most important sugar in cookie making. It delivers
sweetness, influences the structural and textural properties of
cookies, and is presumed to incorporate air into the fat during cookie
dough preparation. Furthermore, in cookies, sucrose decreases
dough viscosity (Maache-Rezzoug et al., 1998). During baking, the
undissolved sugar progressively dissolves, and hence contributes
to cookie spread (Hoseney, 1994). Other parameters that are influenced
by the recipe’s sugar (level) include cookie hardness, crispness,
colour, and volume. Finally, Hoseney (1994) believes that,
during baking, sucrose recrystallization at the cookie surface
causes the typical surface cracking pattern. However, in contrast,
others (Slade et al., 1993) relate the cracking pattern to the degree
of collapse at the end of baking