Jessica Shamash

FNES 307 W
Professor Choi
Research Project

Consumer Evaluation of Egg Replacements in the Production of a

Sugar Cookie
Jessica Shamash, Yifat Adler, Michal Goldstein, Dr. Choi, Department of Family, Nutrition and
Exercise Sciences, Queens College, CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11367
Abstract
Individuals taste preferences for different cookie variations were tested by formulating a reduced
cholesterol/allergy free egg free sugar cookie. Random sampling of sixty- eight CUNY Queens
College students and staff were used as test subjects to evaluate the three different samples.
Using banana and flax seed as an egg replacement three different sugar cookie variations were
prepared: one using the original recipe including the egg, one using flaxseeds as an egg
replacement, and one using banana as an egg replacement. The data was analyzed and found a
significant difference between the texture acceptability (P=0.001) and overall acceptability
(P=0.025) between the groups. Cookies prepared using the banana replacement instead of an egg
had the highest texture acceptability and overall acceptability; as well as having 380mg less
cholesterol and being egg allergy free. A Pearsons Correlation test showed that texture had the
highest correlation to overall acceptability for the cookies P=0.839. This difference may be due
to the added softness and moisture of the banana when incorporated into the recipe. Successful
formulation of the modified recipe in producing egg free cookies is beneficial to limiting
cholesterol intake levels in the diet as well as preventing the cause of an allergic reaction to egg
proteins.
Key Words: Egg substitute, cholesterol, sensory acceptability, banana, flaxseed, egg
replacements
Introduction
In previous experiments and testing, it has been proven that excessive intake of cholesterol can
have adverse health effects on our bodies (High Cholesterol Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke). In
addition to already producing cholesterol, you can also consume foods that provide the nutrient;
such as meats, eggs, or dairy products. When eaten in appropriate amounts, cholesterol, can be
healthy. However high intake amounts of cholesterol can lead to serious heart and blood vessel
diseases; blockage of major arteries due to plaque build up, stroke, heart attack (High Cholesterol
Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke). By reducing your cholesterol intake even slightly, we can aim to
alleviate high cholesterol levels (Egg Allergy).
Eggs have also been found to produce allergic responses in certain individuals due to their
bodys reaction to ingesting egg proteins (Egg Allergy). When these proteins are taken into the
body, the immune system sees the proteins as a foreign invader, and begins to attack and produce

chemicals to defend itself against what it believes to be a foreign invader (Egg Allergy). Children
who are allergic to eggs can have reactions ranging from a mild rash to anaphylaxis, a lifethreatening condition that impairs breathing and can send the body into shock (High Cholesterol
Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke). Egg allergies have also been found to be linked to respiratory
problems such as asthma and the presence of other atopic diseases (Lin, 164). While it has been
found that only egg whites contain the allergen (Egg Allergy), patients with egg allergy must
avoid all eggs completely because it is impossible to separate the white and yolk from each other
without cross contamination (Egg Allergy). By producing an egg free cookie, we aim to satisfy
all these needs.
In high stress or off mood periods of time, people often turn to their favorite comfort or junk
foods to boost their dopamine levels and feel a sense of pleasure. Cookies are one of these types
of foods. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a reduced cholesterol/egg free
sugar cookie to prevent high cholesterol levels and alleviate egg allergies. In our experiment, we
used bananas and a flax seed-water mixture as two different types of egg replacements because
they both are egg free as well as low in cholesterol. In addition to not having been tested as
replacements before, bananas are a good source of potassium and have no cholesterol; flax seeds
are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that can in turn reduce LDL levels, and increase HDL
levels in the body (High Cholesterol Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke) which is why we chose the
two as our egg substitutes. Therefore, they will allow us to produce an allergy free cookie as
well. We used sensory testing to evaluate consumers preferences between the different
modifications (eggs vs. banana replacement vs. flax-water replacement). We used randomly
sampling to choose 68 participants who were willing to sit for a taste testing.
Testers evaluated each cookie using the hedonic scale of testing, by assigning a number
representing how much they like or disliked the samples presented to them from 1 to 9; 1 being
dislike extremely and 9 being like extremely.
Materials and Methods
Materials
The materials needed for this experiment included baking supplies of All Purpose Flour (J.M.
Smuckers Company Orville, OH), baking soda (Church & Dwight CO. INC., Princeton, NJ),
baking powder (ACH Food Companies Inc, Jersey City, NJ), butter (Breakstones, Kraft,
Northfield, NJ), white sugar (Domino Foods Inc. Yonkers, NY), one egg (Egglands Best Inc.
Jeffersonville, PA), vanilla extract (McCormick and Company Inc, Baltimore, Maryland), banana
(Dole Food Company Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA), flax seed (Bobs Red Mill Natural Foods,
Redding, California) , and water (Nestle Waters North America Inc, Maine). All of these listed
ingredients were purchased from Fresh Direct Foods, Flushing, NY.
We also used an electric hand mixer (Black & Decker, Towson, MD), Maytag oven (Maytag,
Newton, IA), varied bowl sizes, spoons, gloves in our preparation of the cookie dough.
Formulations and Sample Preparation

The dry ingredients flour such as flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder were all
measured and put into their respective bowls. Butter was measured appropriately followed by the
addition of white sugar, and creamed together for approximately 3-4 minutes using an electric
hand mixer. Followed by the addition of the eggs, or egg substitutes and the vanilla extract. We
then gradually added the dry ingredient mixture of flour, baking soda, and baking powder, to the
creamed butter and sugar, until all of the dry ingredients had been added and a dough has formed
by using our hands to mix. Then we measured and rolled out the dough into teaspoonful sized
balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet to be baked for 13 minutes at 350 degrees.
Then the cookies were removed from the over, and allowed to cool on respective cooling racks,
which were set for each different variation.
Three different samples of cookies were prepared with their appropriate substitutes as per the
recipe: 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup
butter, softened, 1 cups white sugar, 1egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Sample cookie group
1 (145) was the control group, prepared with one egg. Sample cookie group 2 (768) was prepared
using the egg substitute of 1 T flax seed + 3 T water. Sample cookie group 3 (902) was prepared
using the egg substitute of banana.
Table 1: Ingredient Formulation for Cookie Samples
All purpose flour
Baking soda
Baking powder
Butter
White sugar
Vanilla Extract
Egg
Banana
Ground Flax seed
Water

Control
2 cups
1 tsp
tsp
1 cup
1 cups
1 tsp
1 large
-

Banana
2 cups
1 tsp
tsp
1 cup
1 cups
1 tsp
each
-

Flax-egg
2 cups
1 tsp
tsp
1 cup
1 cups
1 tsp
1 tbsp.
3 tbsp.

Sensory Analysis
In this experiment, sixty-eight panelists (composed of 41 females and 27 males between the ages
of 19 to 72 years) sat for individual taste testing to evaluate three different cookies prepared in
three different ways. Mean age of panelists was calculated to be 26 years of age with a median of
29 years of age. The experiment was to evaluate the sensory preferences of consumers in relation
to eggs, and egg substitutes used such as banana and a flax seed water replacement.
Sensory evaluation of 68 volunteers was conducted by using a hedonic scale to rate different
characteristics such as; appearance acceptability, flavor acceptability, texture acceptability, and
overall acceptability. Panelists rated each cookie on a scale from 1-9; 1 being dislike extremely,
and 9 being like extremely.

Testers were each given a labeled plate containing the sugar cookie samples with egg, flaxseed
replacement, and banana replacement in the order: 445, 768, 902. To prevent any bias, the
research and objectives were not revealed to testers as they evaluated the cookies. The subjects
were given water to allow for palette cleansing in between cookie samples, as well as a writing
utensil and a rating sheet containing the characteristics (appearance acceptability, flavor
acceptability, texture acceptability, and overall acceptability) as well a rating scale with all
number from 1-9 as options to rate and record each testers preferences.
Data Analysis
Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 22, 2013, IBM Inc., Armonk,
NY) to calculate descriptive statistics of N values, means, standard deviations, standard errors,
and confidence percentages (95%) of all sensory characteristics, appearance acceptability, flavor
acceptability, texture acceptability, and overall acceptability. A One-Way ANOVA (Analysis of
Variance), analysis was carried out to also calculate the presence of a significant different
between groups and within groups of the characteristics for appearance acceptability, flavor
acceptability, texture acceptability, and overall acceptability. A Tukey HSD Test (post-hoc test)
for all variables to further determine significant differences between variables. Pearsons
Correlation was conducted to assess correlations and values across the characteristics appearance
acceptability, flavor acceptability, texture acceptability, and overall acceptability.
Nutritional Facts and contents of one serving of each sample were calculated using Food
Processor (Version 10.12.0, ESHA Research, Inc. Salem, OR).

Nutritional Facts

Original Sugar Cookie

Fig. 1

Flax Replacement Cookie

Fig. 2

Banana Replacement Cookie

Fig. 3

The nutritional facts for each cookie prepared: egg/control cookie, flaxseed cookie, and banana
cookie, are all shown above respectively in figures 1,2, and 3. The average serving size per
cookie was 17.333 grams, or one cookie. The nutrients we focused on were cholesterol in hopes
of producing a reduced cholesterol sugar cookie that is also egg free. They were all generated
using the same amount of ingredients as listed in the control recipe above, however the use of the
banana substitute produced a slightly larger serving size in comparison to the other two cookies
(flax and egg). The egg cookie produced 17g per cookie per serving as well as the flax seed
cookie, but the cookie produced using the banana substitute gave us a slightly larger serving size
of 18g per cookie.
Results and Discussion
Sensory Analysis
Participants rated each cookie based on a 9-point hedonic rating system. Each cookie was scored
by a number between 1-9, 1 being dislike extremely, and 9 being like extremely.
In terms of appearance acceptability, the control cookie was ranked with the highest mean value
of 6.86 in comparison to the other two samples. The cookies prepared with the banana
replacement were favored second with a mean value of 6.72, and the cookies prepared with the
ground flaxseed replacement received the lowest mean score of 6.45.

The cookies prepared with the banana replacement ranked highest in flavor acceptability with
the mean value of 6.98, texture acceptability with a mean value of 7.09, and overall acceptability
with a mean value of 7.14 according to the data (see table 2) in comparison to the cookie
prepared with ground flaxseed replacement and the egg.
The analysis of our ANOVA data showed that there is no significant difference (P>0.005)
between any of the cookie samples in the sensory attributes for appearance acceptability, flavor
acceptability, or overall acceptability. However, there was shown to be a significant difference
(P= 0.001) in texture acceptability between the three samples (table 2).
A Pearsons Correlation found that texture had the highest correlation to overall acceptability.
The cookie prepared using the banana as an egg replacement was favored 84% of the time in
comparison to the cookies prepared using flaxseed as an egg replacement (74%) and the control
cookie prepared using the egg (31%).
According to table 3, the sugar cookies produced using the banana as egg replacement showed
the highest values for flavor acceptability (6.98), overall acceptability (7.14), and highest texture
acceptability (7.09).

Table 2: Sensory Characteristics of Sugar Cookie Treatments (Mean Standard Deviation

Treatment

Sensory Characteristics
Control (Egg) Cookie
Appearance
Acceptability
Flavor
Acceptability
Texture
Acceptability
Overall
Acceptability

Flaxseed Cookie

Banana Cookie

6.86a1.91

6.45a2.01

6.72a1.81

6.40a1.54

6.43a1.95

6.98a2.01

5.90a1.71

5.86a2.12

7.09b2.00

6.29a1.71

6.33ab2.00

7.14b1.90

*Mean + Standard Deviations of 68 panelists using a 9-piont Hedonic Scale.

*Means with the same superscripts in rows indicate no significance in difference (Tukey test, p<0.05

Table 3: Mean Acceptability of Sensory Characteristics of Cookie Variations

Mean Acceptability of Cookie Variations

Control (Egg) Cookie

Flaxseed Cookie

Banana Cookie

The blue color represents the control, or egg sugar cookie, the orange color represents the cookie
produced using a flax seed substitute, and the grey color represents the cookie produced using the
banana substitute.
The graph represents the means of 68 panelists using a 9-point hedonic scale.

Table 4: Pearsons Correlation for Appearance, Flavor, Texture, and Overall Acceptability(s)
Pearsons Correlation
Appearance
Acceptability
1

Flavor
Acceptability
0.334**

Texture
Acceptability
0.263**

Overall
Acceptability
0.309**

--

0.691**

0.736**

Texture Acceptability

--

--

0.839**

Overall Acceptability

--

--

--

Appearance
Acceptability
Flavor Acceptability

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level

Image 1: Cookie Samples Control (sample #145/445) vs. Flaxseed (sample #368/768) vs.
Banana (sample #902)

The three samples are presented in the picture above to show the plate that was given to each test subject
when sampling the different variations of sugar cookies baked with egg, flaxseed replacement, and
banana replacement.

Nutrient Analysis
The three cookie labels for the variations created using the according substitutes (egg vs. flax vs.
banana) are show in the above figures (1, 2, 3). The values for serving size, calories, calories
from fat, total fat (saturated fat and trans fat), cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate (dietary
fiber and sugar), protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron are all clearly exhibited on
each of the three labels. In addition to these basic facts, the labels also list the percent daily
values based on a 2,000 calorie diet (%DV) as well as the calories per gram of each
macronutrient (9cal/g of fat; 4cal/g of carbohydrates; 4cal/g of protein). The Nutritional Facts
show that in comparison to the original sugar cookie recipe, the cookies which were prepared
using flax seed/ banana as a replacement showed lower cholesterol levels by 5 mg.
Discussion
Since the purpose of this experiment was to develop a lower cholesterol and allergy free cookie
through these modifications, our cookies successfully accomplished this.
The original sugar cookie baked using one whole egg (see control recipe for ingredients)
contained 15 mg of cholesterol per cookie (one serving). In comparison, the cookies prepared
using the flaxseed and banana as an egg replacement were found to have 10mg of cholesterol per
serving (one cookie). Thus producing a lower cholesterol cookie which can help with the adverse
effects of consuming high levels of cholesterol such as heart and blood vessel disease (High
Cholesterol Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke). The cookies are also egg free, which also
counteracts the harmful effects of egg allergy reactions such as anaphylaxis (Egg Allergy). Egg

allergies have also been found to be linked to respiratory problems such as asthma and the
presence of other atopic disease (Lin, 161).
The control cookies prepared with eggs had the highest values for appearance acceptability
(6.86) in comparison to the cookies prepared using the banana replacement (6.72) and the
cookies prepared using flaxseed replacement (6.45). This cause could have been due to the roles
eggs play in baked goods as a coloring agent (McWilliams, 371). The reason for this is due to the
carotenoid pigments, lutein and zeaxanthin, in the yolk which add color to the foods products in
which they are used (McWilliams, 368). The appearance of the control egg cookie could have
also been more favorable due to the emulsifying action of eggs. Baked products containing egg
yolk benefit from the emulsifying actions of lecithin and lysolecithin, which prevents the
curdling of batters (McWilliams 366).
The sugar cookies produced using the banana as egg replacement showed the highest values for
flavor acceptability (6.98), overall acceptability (7.14), highest texture acceptability (7.09). The
reason for the higher acceptability could be due to the increased potential for chewiness when
using egg replacements/substitutes. Baked good which use egg replacements/substitutes have
been shown to have significant differences in hardness and chewiness due to the decreased starch
gelatinization (Xing, 8). Gelatinization is a physical process that occurs when a starch is heated
in water. It causes the molecules of starch to swell in the correct temperature range required.
(McWilliams, 165). The use of egg replacements allows less time for gelatinization to occur,
therefore decreasing the specific volume and textural properties including hardness, chewiness,
and cohesiveness (Xing, 8).
In the Pearsons Correlation analysis our data found that texture had the highest correlation with
overall acceptability of the cookies. This could have been due to the added moisture, chewiness,
and sweetness from the use of a banana as an egg replacement. The sensory characteristic found
to be the number one contributing factor to the high overall acceptability in this finding was
texture (table 4).
Conclusions
Overall, we found that the cookies prepared using the banana as an egg replacement was favored
in comparison to the cookies prepared using flaxseed as an egg replacement and the control
cookie prepared using the egg.
The research study demonstrated how we can use alternatives in baking to reduce cholesterol
content of baked goods through the use of healthier and more beneficial substitutes in addition to
eliminating the harmful effects of allergens through the replacement of eggs in recipes. The
replacements used not only lowered cholesterol levels, but added beneficial nutrients such as
fatty omega-3 fatty acids through the use of the flax seed substitute for eggs. The replacements
used also allowed the addition of potassium to sugar cookie produced using the banana
substitute.
This experiment also showed that although eggs are good coloring and emulsifying agents, they
are not the only factors for producing a desirable cookie. The cookies that were created using the

banana replacement showed the highest values for texture acceptability and overall acceptability
in comparison to the use of egg in the original recipe, which was preferred by panelists. All the
cookies produced exhibited the same outer appearances in relation to structure and shape (see
image 1).
Future research studies can be done to test the use of banana and flaxseed as replacements in
other baked goods and foods other than cookies. Some examples for future research include but
are not limited to different breads, cakes, pies, and/or pastries. Following up with a sensory
evaluation for consumer preferences.
References
Egg Allergy. (2015). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from http://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/eggallergy
High Cholesterol Risks: Heart Attack and Stroke. (2007). Retrieved November 16, 2015,
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page=2
McWilliams, M. (2012). Eggs. In Foods Experimental Perspectives (7th ed., pp. 363-388). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Meyer, N. (2005, November 21). The Effectiveness of Homemade Egg Substitutes Compared to Egg
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http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/fn/fn453/Project_Archive/Fall_2005/Homemade_egg_substitutes_vs_Eggbeat
Lin, J. (2008). Poster Sessions: Allergy, 63: 158611. Retrieved November 14, 2015, from
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