Quality Evaluation of Cookies Produced from Yellow Root Cassava and Bambara Groundnut Flour Blends

Food-to-food fortification is a worthwhile approach for elevating the standard of nutrition of populations. This study evaluated the quality characteristics of cookies produced from blends (%) of yellow root cassava known as provitamin A cassava (PVAC) and Bambara groundnut (BG) flours (100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80 and 0:100). The formulated cookies were evaluated for physical properties, colour parameters, anti-nutritional factors, proximate, mineral, beta-carotene, sensory properties and in vitro protein digestibility using standard methods. Moisture content of the enriched cookies (5.75-6.74%) was within permitted moisture level for cookies that will not encourage the growth of microorganisms. Increased substitution with BG flour resulted to increase in protein (3.46-16.33%), ash (2.64-4.26%), fat content (21.66-24.63%), and energy value (458.88-480.69 kcal/100g) respectively. Cookies with high beta-carotene content (47.06-91.39µg/100g) were produced as a result of incorporating PVAC flour to the composite flours. The mineral content of the cookies was shown to have decreased with increasing Bambara substitution for calcium and sodium whereas an increase with increasing Bambara substitution was recorded for magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc respectively. Physical properties of the cookies ranged from 8.31-9.02g weight, 4.08-4.53cm diameter, 0.54-0.68cm thickness, 6.04 – 8.46 spread ratio and 4.13-5.66kg breaking strength.