**1. Introduction**

Cookies are baked products containing three major ingredients: flour, fat, and sugar. They form the largest category of bakery snacks because of their low cost, good taste, texture (crispness), and storability, and are considered an effective vehicle for nutrient supply to consumers. Cookies are usually developed with wheat flour because it forms unique visco-elastic dough when mixed with water, due to the presence of gluten [1]. However, in specific individuals, gluten may create autoimmune reactions. For this reason, the demand for gluten-free products is increasing, leading to a considerable growth in the gluten-free food market [2]. Even among gluten-tolerant individuals, a reduction in the popularity of products with gluten has been observed in recent years [3]. Thus, it would be interesting to substitute wheat for other gluten-free flours that enhance the nutritional quality of the final product [4,5].

However, the nutritional profile of gluten-free bakery products available in the market is often questioned [6,7]. It is thus advisable to replace wheat flour with other flours that provide nutrients and other healthy compounds, and to thus produce cookies that may contribute to the design of a healthy diet. In addition, the healthy properties of snacks are currently a major concern [8,9]. For this purpose, the use of seed defatted flours, which are byproducts of the oil extraction industry, may be appropriate. Several seeds that are commercially available for human consumption as food supplements are considered

**Citation:** Martínez, E.; García-Martínez, R.; Álvarez-Ortí, M.; Rabadán, A.; Pardo-Giménez, A.; Pardo, J.E. Elaboration of Gluten-Free Cookies with Defatted Seed Flours: Effects on Technological, Nutritional, and Consumer Aspects. *Foods* **2021**, *10*, 1213. https://doi.org/10.3390/ foods10061213

Academic Editor: Grant Campbell

Received: 13 May 2021 Accepted: 26 May 2021 Published: 27 May 2021

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functional foods because of their beneficial effects on health. This category includes flax, sesame, chia, and poppy seeds. These contain high levels of oil (higher than 20%), which can be extracted by pressure systems, resulting in an oil extraction industry that produces high quality oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. One byproduct of this industry is the press cake, which, once ground, yields the defatted flour. Although these defatted flours may be used for other purposes [10,11], they are generally considered as waste, with no further use. Thus, the incorporation of defatted seed flours into the formulation of cookies may be useful to increase the added value of this byproduct [12].

In addition, defatted seed flours may contain valuable compounds to improve the nutritional properties of cookies. They show higher levels of proteins and total dietary fiber, but a lower content of fat than the seeds [13,14]. However, the remaining fat content has the benefit of seed oils, where polyunsaturated fatty acids are predominant [15]. Additionally, these seeds contain a high proportion of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenolic compounds, with antioxidant properties [16].

In this work, we evaluated the physical, nutritional, and sensory behavior of cookies elaborated with defatted flour from chia, flax, sesame, and poppy seeds, in order to consider the use of this valuable byproduct from the oil industry in the food chain.

### **2. Materials and Methods**
