What’s baking? Exploring the latest biscuit and cookie trends

With countless variations and impeccable flavors, biscuits, and cookies have become a delight for consumers around the globe. The two most popular packaged snacks can be mixed with various ingredients, including chocolates, nuts, cashews, coco chips, cream-based fruits, jam, sandwich fillings, vanilla, and many more. As every region boasts an idiosyncratic clasp on the snack, producers are paying remarkable attention to bringing innovation in the cookies and biscuits sector.

Food businesses are facing tremendous challenges due to the recent healthy and sustainable trends in the market. Companies are working towards making products high in nutrition and taste while being cost-effective. Much work is being done in new product development, premiumization, and health, driving the biscuit market forward. Below are more trends that are transforming the biscuit and cookie sector worldwide.

High protein and low carbohydrate 

The advent of the "conscious-eating" trend has raised consumers' expectations to the next level. Over the years, the craze for the low-carb and high-protein diet has increased multifold. This has resulted in a rise in the urban population's high-protein and low-carb snacks and bars. 

Nostalgic flavors on healthier snacks like protein bars, granola bars, and chocolate chips are being launched by companies as per the demand. Some of the most trending flavors with high protein content and minimal carbs and sugar involve peanut butter chocolate chips, double chocolate chips, and sea salt caramel, among others. 

Reduced sugar and sugar-free chocolate flavors

Post the pandemic, rising health concerns push consumers towards low-sugar and sugar-free diets. Chocolate biscuits, the most popular flavor for biscuits with low sugar, are trending all around the globe. Interestingly, the snack is equally relishing, sumptuous, and guilt-free. 

High-fiber

High-fiber oat cookies are incredibly easy to go or in the workplace diet for people searching for gluten-free and high-fiber breakfast. The thrilling combination of oats and dried fruits proffers sufficient fiber, making you active throughout the day. The trending flavor options in this category involve triple chocolate, sea salt caramel, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate chips, and dark cocoa with cranberry oat cookies. 

Fruit-flavors

 Cream-filled biscuits and crackers sandwiches, lychee cream, and lemon cream are some of the most popular flavors trending globally. Fruit-flavored biscuit sandwiches, including strawberry and blueberry, are liked tremendously by the young generation. Moreover, producers are constantly striving to bring uniqueness to the taste of consumers in this category.  

 Soy flour

Soy Flour, undoubtedly, is one of the most essential sources of proteins, fibers, vitamins, and minerals. Due to its highly nutritious nature, soy flour is treated as a great alternative to wheat flour. When it comes to biscuits and cookies, food producers have started utilizing the concentrate of processed soya to reduce carbohydrate content and increase protein content. Soya biscuits with chocolate flavor are trending all over the world. 

Globally, food companies are focusing on environmentally friendly products and methods of producing cookies and biscuits. The advent of healthy and sustainable biscuits through upcycling is not only saving our environment but also providing essential vitamins and minerals to the human body. Adding functional ingredients like almond skins in biscuit production, due to numerous bioactive phenolic compounds like flavonoids, phenolic acids, and tannins, results in a healthy and sustainable product. Interestingly, it also increases the friability of biscuits, making them easier to break.

In a bid to be environmentally conscious, various food manufacturers, primarily biscuits and cookies, have started relying on upcycling for a more conscious and sustainable production. Upcycling product is the latest trend concerning reduced food loss and waste to extend the product's shelf life. Keeping these current trends in mind, the food industry needs to pull up its socks and innovate, pack, and sell to achieve success in this domain.