Physical properties and consumer acceptability of basic muffin made from pumpkin puree as butter replacer

Muffin is a product that highly appreciated by consumers and one of the main ingredients of muffin production is butter which contains high cholesterol and saturated fat. However, in recent years, consumers’ demand increases for healthier ingredient and similar taste to the origin. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the physical properties and sensory acceptability of butter replacement with pumpkin puree on basic muffin ingredient. Muffin formulations of three were formulated to replace butter with pumpkin puree at concentrations: 20% (Formulation A), 25% (Formulation B); and 30% (Formulation C). A muffin formulated with butter was served as a control. All muffins were analysed for muffin’s height, texture profiles, colour, and consumer acceptability. Results found that replacement of pumpkin puree in muffin formulations increased (P>0.05) muffin height. Replacement of pumpkin puree in muffin formulations (from 30% to 20%) was also significantly increased (P<0.05) hardness and chewiness of muffins as compared to control muffin. However, the cohesiveness of muffins was not differed (P>0.05) among all formulations. Analysis of colour found that lightness (L*) of pumpkin puree muffins significantly decreased (P<0.05) as compared to control muffin when the amount of pumpkin puree was increased in muffin formulations (from 20% to 30%). However, replacement of pumpkin puree in muffin formulations increased (P>0.05) a* (green to red) and b* (blue to yellow) values of muffins. In the assessment of pumpkin puree muffin acceptability, Hedonic test obtained that consumers preferred muffin with 30% of pureed pumpkin replacement with control muffin in all attributes (colour, aroma, texture, taste, and overall acceptance) and comparable (P>0.05) with control muffin. Thus, these findings suggested that 30% pumpkin puree was feasible to be used as butter replacer in muffin formulation.