Development and characterization of groundnut oil-based oleogels for replacing saturated fats in cookies formulations

The study was aimed to develop a shortening agent, using the oleogelation technique with an improved fatty acid profile to replace commercial shortening. Six different oleogels were prepared using groundnut oil with beeswax and rice bran wax at three different concentrations: 8%, 10%, and 12% on weight basis and were evaluated for chemical properties, oil binding capacity (OBC) and rheological attributes to standardize oleogel. Groundnut oil (GO) in combination with beeswax (BW) oleogel showed better attributes as compared to oleogel consisting of GO and rice bran wax. The standardized groundnut oil combined with 12% beeswax (GNBW) oleogel was further characterized using rancimat, XRD, DSC, and gas chromatography (GC) to examine its efficacy in processing and quality. Fatty acid profile, thermal properties and crystalline structure revealed that GNBW oleogel was found nutritionally superior than commercial shortening and can render competitive functional attributes in the finished product. The commercial shortening was then replaced with GNBW oleogel at different concentrations (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) to prepare cookies, which were evaluated for dimensional analysis, textural properties, color and sensory attributes. The results indicated that GNBW oleogel can effectively replace 25% commercial shortening in the cookies.