Effect of different sweeteners on the thermal, rheological, and water mobility properties of soft wheat flour and their application to cookies as an alternative to sugar

[Display omitted] •Allulose and kestose were applied as a sugar alternative in a cookie system.•Kestose led to lower water mobility than allulose, delaying starch gelatinization.•Delayed gelatinization lowered pasting/thermo-mechanical properties of wheat flour.•Kestose was more feasible to replace sucrose in terms of cookie quality attributes. The effects of different sweeteners on the physicochemical properties of soft wheat flour were investigated mainly in terms of thermal, rheological, and water mobility features, and their feasibilities as an alternative to sugar were evaluated in the cookie system. Kestose significantly reduced the solvent retention capacity of wheat flour, followed by sucrose, fructose, and allulose. Thermal analysis showed that the sucrose and kestose distinctly led to an increase in the gelatinization temperature of wheat flour, which was explained by lower T2 relaxation times. In addition, the pasting viscosities and thermo-mechanical properties of wheat flour containing kestose became lower compared to allulose, and these differences were morphologically confirmed by the real-time microscopic measurements during heating. Furthermore, when the sweeteners were incorporated into the cookie formulations, kestose played a positive role as a sugar replacer in the cookie system by presenting a comparable spread factor, texture, and color to cookies with sucrose.