R esponse surface methodology was applied to optimize the quality of reduced-fat biscuits in which banana puree
(BP) was used as a fat replacer and sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL) as an emulsifier. The results showed that the
replacement of fat with BP resulted in biscuits with lower values for width and spread ratio, but higher in thickness,
volume and specific volume. Sensory analysis declared that the replacement of fat led to production of biscuits with
lower scores for appearance, texture, taste, odour and overall acceptability. The incorporation of SSL had an improving
effect on most sensory characteristics of the biscuits. When the optimization process was implemented, it was
found that biscuits with fat replaced by 64.5% BP and 0.5 g of SSL exhibited comparable physical properties to the
control biscuits. Optimized biscuits exhibited lower organoleptic scores, but were still highly scored by the panelists.