Nutritional, physicochemical, and sensorial characterisation of quinoa-millet enriched gluten-free functional cookies

Abstract The demand for gluten-free food products is expected to grow in the coming years. Quinoa's versatility allows it to replace traditional grains and adds high nutritional value to grain blends and processed food items. The present study was designed to prepare and evaluate gluten-free cookies by substituting rice with quinoa and keeping pearl and foxtail millet constant. A significant increase in protein (8.0–13.2 g/100 g), crude fibre (2.9–6.2%), ash (0.5–1.7%), and hardness (928.9–1736.9 g) was observed with increasing quinoa supplementation. A positive correlation of crude fibre with protein, hardness, and fracturability was observed at P ≤ 5%. Organoleptic evaluation indicated that cookies with 30% quinoa were overall accepted by the consumer. Also, these cookies had lower acid and peroxide values, thus, had longer shelf-lives. This is the first report for the use of quinoa with the mixture of rice and millet, which could be a decent alternative ingredient for gluten-free cookies formulations.