Substituting heat-moisture treated GBR in the cookies resulted
in slightly decreased hardness compared to untreated GBR
(Table 2). This result was not in agreement with the result for
noodles (Chung et al., 2012) that the hardness increased after
substituting the heat-moisture treated GBR. This difference was
probably due to the different matrix structures between cookies
and noodles. Sugar-snap cookies are in a glassy state, which forms a
partly continuous phase at high concentration and a composite
mixture of protein, starch, fat, and sugar glass. Chevallier et al.
(2000) claimed that the hardness of cookies is a result of the interactions
between protein and starch through hydrogen bonding.
As the heat-moisture treatment accelerates the molecular rearrangement
between starch molecules, such as amyloseeamylose
and amylose-amylopectin, the interactions between starch and
protein become weaker. Consequently, the heat-moisture treatment
of GBR in the composite matrix structure of a cookie may have
resulted in reduced hardness.