Comparison of the effects of sucrose and hexose on furfural formation and browning in cookies baked at different temperatures

The influence of the type of sugar and baking temperature on sugar degradation, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) formation and browning was studied in model cookies. The baking process was characterised by the temperature in the cookie and the water content and activity. A reference browning was selected to compare the differently processed cookies. The accumulation of HMF was modelled at three temperatures for three formulas (sucrose (S-CK), glucose (G-CK) or fructose (F-CK)). HMF started to accumulate at a_w between 0.5 and 0.7 depending on the temperature and followed a first order kinetic, highly dependent on the baking temperature and type of sugar. Cookies baked at 200 °C accumulated 10–100 times less HMF than those baked at higher temperatures. Below 250 °C, S-CK produced less HMF than G- or F-CK, but the inverse was observed at 300 °C.