COMPOSITE BAKERY PRODUCT

Abstract

A composite bakery product having a core containing an edible capsule whose external surface includes at least one flat area, the edible capsule being coated by a sheath over its entire surface except for one flat area thereof is disclosed. The edible capsule encloses a liquid food and is impermeable to it, and the sheath is made of a shortbread biscuit. The edible capsule is made of chocolate, chocolate substitutes, cocoa butter or other edible fat and the liquid food may be a beverage, optionally sweetened, such as for example coffee, chocolate, coffee with milk, cappuccino, coffee substitutes or fruit juice.

Claims

1. A composite bakery product comprising a core consisting of an edible capsule whose external surface includes at least one flat area, said edible capsule being coated by a sheath over its entire surface except for one flat area thereof, said edible capsule enclosing a liquid food and being impermeable to said liquid food, and said sheath being made of a shortbread biscuit, wherein said edible capsule is made of chocolate, chocolate substitutes, cocoa butter or other edible fat.

2. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said liquid food is a beverage, optionally sweetened, selected from the group consisting of coffee, chocolate, coffee with milk, cappuccino, coffee substitutes and fruit juice.

3. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said liquid food has a water activity value between 0.7 and 0.85.

4. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said edible capsule is made of chocolate.

5. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein a layer of a food ingredient is interposed between said edible capsule and said biscuit sheath, said food ingredient layer being able to firmly bind said edible capsule to said biscuit sheath.

6. The composite bakery product according to claim 5, wherein said food ingredient is chocolate.

7. The composite bakery product according to claim 6, wherein said edible capsule is made of chocolate.

8. The composite bakery product according to claim 7, wherein a layer of chocolate coats said one flat area of the capsule external surface that is not coated by said sheath.

9. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said capsule has the shape of a spherical cap, of a partial ovoid, of a truncated cone or of a cube, parallelepiped, pyramid, prism or polyhedron.

10. The composite bakery product according to claim 9, wherein said capsule has a truncated cone shape.

11. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said capsule constitutes from 10 to 40% by weight of the total weight of the bakery product.

12. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said sheath has an overall shape of a spherical cap, of a partial ovoid, of a truncated cone or of a cube, parallelepiped, pyramid, prism or polyhedron lacking one of its faces.

13. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said liquid food enclosed in the capsule constitutes from 20% to 50% by weight of the total weight of the bakery product.

14. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said sheath has a greater dimension (length or diameter) from 15 mm to 40 mm.

15. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said capsule and said sheath both have a truncated cone shape.

16. The composite bakery product according to claim 15, having the shape of a truncated cone with a major base having a diameter of 25-30 mm, a minor base having a diameter of 12-18 mm and a height of 16-24 mm.

17. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said sheath made of biscuit has an outer surface coating of chocolate, chocolate substitute or icing.

18. The composite bakery product according to claim 1, wherein said liquid food has a water activity value of 0.82.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation in cross-section of an embodiment of the bakery product according to the present invention, in which the sheath consists of shortbread biscuit, the capsule has the shape of a truncated cone made of chocolate and the liquid food is a coffee-based beverage.

[0039] FIG. 2a is a photograph of the bakery product according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] FIG. 2b is a photograph of the core of the bakery product of FIG. 2a.

[0041] FIG. 2c is a photograph of the sheath of the bakery product of FIG. 2a.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0042] The present invention provides a composite bakery product 1 comprising a biscuit sheath 2 which partially encases a core consisting of an edible capsule 3 and a liquid food 4 contained therein, where said capsule is impermeable to the liquid it contains (FIG. 1). The encasing of the core is only partial, because, as shown in FIG. 2a, one flat area of the surface of the capsule is uncoated. A layer 5 of a food ingredient, typically chocolate, is interposed between the biscuit sheath 2 and the edible capsule 3, said food ingredient layer firmly binding the edible capsule 3 and the biscuit sheath 2.

[0043] In a particular embodiment, the edible capsule 3 is made in a truncated-cone shape and the biscuit sheath encases only its lateral surfaces and its minor base (FIG. 2a).

[0044] The term “bakery product”, as used herein, means a product which, at least in part, is baked in an oven according to one of the following baking technologies: warm air, vapor, microwave and radiofrequency; alternatively, the product can be baked between two heating plates.

[0045] Biscuit

[0046] The term “biscuit”, as used herein, means a shortbread biscuit obtained from a dough of flour, sugar, butter or other vegetable fat and other ingredients (as described in Example 1), oven-baked.

[0047] The sheath of the bakery product according to the present invention is made of a biscuit, as defined above, characterized in that it is crumbly and liquid-permeable.

[0048] The sheath of the bakery product according to the present invention may have different portions, which, in some embodiments, may be characterized by being of different flavors and/or colors.

[0049] For example, one of the portions of the biscuit sheath may contain cocoa or have the taste of coffee or cappuccino, while the remaining portion(s) may be vanilla-flavored.

[0050] In this way, it is possible to make a range of products which have combinations of different shapes, colors and/or tastes.

[0051] Edible Capsule

[0052] The edible capsule 3 of the present bakery product encloses the liquid food 4, isolating it from the biscuit sheath 2 during the conservation of the product. Thus, the capsule has to be impermeable to the liquid food in order to effectively perform its function.

[0053] When it is bitten by the consumer, said capsule breaks, allowing the liquid food to come out and to be quickly absorbed by the biscuit.

[0054] The capsule is therefore solid and impermeable to the liquid contained therein, so as to maintain inside itself the liquid food during the conservation of the product, but still being suited to be bitten and broken during chewing by the consumer.

[0055] Said capsule may consists of, for example, chocolate, chocolate substitute, cocoa butter or other edible fat or of other food ingredient impermeable to the liquid (for example waxes, alginate), and may be of different shapes, for example spherical cap or truncated-cone shape.

[0056] In a preferred embodiment, the capsule consists of a truncated cone made of chocolate, which chocolate may be dark, milk or white chocolate.

[0057] Liquid Food

[0058] The liquid food contained in the edible capsule may be, for example, a beverage, optionally sweetened, selected from the group consisting of coffee, chocolate, coffee with milk, cappuccino, coffee substitutes and fruit juice.

[0059] To guarantee its stability at room temperature, the liquid food is characterized by a water activity between 0.7 and 0.85, preferably 0.82.

[0060] The quantity of liquid food in the bakery product of the present invention is between 20% and 40% by weight of the total weight of the bakery product.

[0061] Bakery Product

[0062] The bakery product according to the present invention may have different geometrical shapes.

[0063] In fact, due to the different shapes in which a shortbread biscuit can be made, the bakery product may have, for example, the shape of a spherical segment, segment of ovoid, cube, parallelepiped, pyramid, prism or polyhedron with 4-12 faces.

[0064] The dimensions are such that it is possible to consume a single bakery product according to the invention in one go, i.e. in one bite, and, for this purpose, the greater dimension of the sheath of the bakery product ranges preferably from 15 mm to 40 mm. The total weight of the bakery product according to the present invention is preferably between 10 grams and 20 grams.

[0065] The present invention will be further described with reference to some exemplifying embodiments which are provided below by way of non-limiting illustration.

Example 1—Production Method in Detail

[0066] Preparation of the Liquid Food

[0067] The liquid food filling was prepared with the flavor of coffee according to the following proportions:

TABLE-US-00001 Ingredient Percentage (%) Water 17.9 Sugar 68.3 Liquid espresso coffee 13.8

[0068] The above percentages are to be meant by weight of the total weight of the ingredients. The ingredients were mixed together and heated to about 70° C. until reaching a homogeneous compound. The liquid thereby obtained was allowed to cool to room temperature.

[0069] Capsule Preparation

[0070] The capsule 3 consisted of 70% dark chocolate.

[0071] In particular, it was formed by pouring 70% tempered dark chocolate in designated little molds with truncated-cone shape (major base diameter 25 mm, height 16.5 mm and minor base diameter 11 mm). The molds were turned upside down to remove the chocolate in excess and cooled to form a partial chocolate envelope having a thickness of about 1.5 mm.

[0072] Once the partial envelope had cooled, the previously prepared coffee-based liquid food was introduced into it by means of a syringe, in an amount equal to about 4 g.

[0073] Once the partial envelope had been filled, the envelope was completed by closing it by pouring molten 70% tempered dark chocolate onto its still open surface. The excess of molten chocolate was removed with a spatula, thereby obtaining the filled and sealed truncated-cone-shaped capsule 3, which was extracted from the mold after cooling.

[0074] The filled truncated-cone-shaped capsule thereby obtained weighted about 7.5 g.

[0075] Biscuit Preparation

[0076] A dough for a biscuit, such as shortbread biscuit, was prepared using the following ingredients.

TABLE-US-00002 Ingredient Percentage (%) Soft wheat flour 54 Sugar 18.4 Sunflower oil 7.7 Butter 6.7 Water 6.7 Wheat starch 5.8 Salt 0.3 Sodium bicarbonate 0.3 Ammonium bicarbonate 0.1

[0077] The above percentages of the single ingredients are to be meant by weight of the total weight of the dough.

[0078] The above-mentioned ingredients were mixed in a planetary mixer at variable mixing speed, according to the following recipe.

[0079] In a first step, a step of slow mixing (22 rpm) of sugar, butter, sunflower oil, was carried out for 1 minute, followed by a step of fast mixing (48 rpm) for a time period of 4 minutes.

[0080] In a second step, water, salt, sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate were added with a slow mixing (22 rpm) for 2 minutes.

[0081] Finally, in the third step, flour was added with a slow mixing (22 rpm) for 2 minutes.

[0082] Once the dough was formed, it was divided and shaped in spherical portions, each weighing 4.5 g (weight identified to properly fill the cells of the molds).

[0083] The thus-obtained portions of biscuit dough were put inside metal molds having wells with truncated-cone shape (major base diameter 28 mm, height 20 mm and minor base diameter 14 mm).

[0084] A metal countermold with solid protrusions with a shape complementary to that of the wells of the mold (major base diameter 25 mm, height 17 mm and minor base diameter 11 mm) was applied to the mold, so as to create a dough layer having a thickness of about 3 mm interposed between each well of the mold and the corresponding solid protrusion of the countermold.

[0085] The block formed by the joined mold and countermold is inserted into a circulating-air oven at 200° C. for 10 minutes to bake the dough.

[0086] Once baked, the biscuits are removed from the mold and allowed to cool to room temperature.

[0087] Each of the biscuits removed from the mold had a truncated-cone-shaped cavity which had formed thanks to the presence of the metal countermold in correspondence to the wells of the underlying mold.

[0088] Assembly of the Finished Product

[0089] In order to obtain the finished product, a given amount (0.3 g) of molten 70% tempered dark chocolate is uniformly distributed onto the inner walls of the truncated-cone-shaped cavities of the biscuits and the truncated-cone-shaped chocolate capsule, filled with coffee-flavored liquid food and obtained as described above, is introduced into each cavity, leaving uncovered the major base of the truncated-cone-shaped chocolate capsule. The thereby assembled product is allowed to cool and the chocolate capsule remains firmly anchored to the biscuit thanks to the hardening of the previously distributed molten chocolate.

Example 2—Confectionery Products

[0090] Some examples of confectionery products according to the present invention are described below.

[0091] All the following confectionery products described in Table 1 have a sheath made of shortbread biscuit which partially encases a chocolate capsule containing a liquid food; possibly, there may be a chocolate coating which externally encases the shortbread biscuit.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 1 Examples of flavor combinations of the bakery product according to the invention. Outer Sheaths made of Chocolate chocolate shortbread biscuit capsule Liquid food coating Example 1 No added aroma Dark Coffee Absent chocolate Example 2 No added aroma Milk Coffee Absent chocolate Example 3 No added aroma White Coffee Absent chocolate Example 4 No added aroma Milk Coffee Present chocolate Example 5 Cocoa biscuit Dark Coffee Absent chocolate Example 6 Biscuit sheath White Coffee Absent in part milk- chocolate flavored and in part cappuccino- flavored Example 7 Biscuit sheath White Coffee Absent in part milk- chocolate flavored and in part without aroma Example 8 Biscuit sheath Dark Coffee Absent in part coffee- chocolate flavored and in part without added aroma Example 9 No added aroma Dark Cappuccino Absent chocolate Example 10 No added aroma Dark Fruit juice Absent chocolate “Coffee” means a coffee-based beverage, for example an espresso, with or without sugar.