Nutritionally Improved Cookies from Composite Flour: African Walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) with Wheat

African walnut seed (Tetracarpidium conophorum) is rich in protein and phytochemical with great potentials for food application, but has limited uses in food industry. The African walnut seed was procured from Oje market and commercial wheat flour in Aleshiloye market, Ibadan. The commercial wheat and African walnut flours were composites of varying ratios; 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40 to prepare cookies and labeled samples X, A, B, C and D respectively. The proximate composition, anti-nutrients (oxalates, phytate and protease inhibitor), phyto-chemical (tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and sensory evaluation of the cookies were determined using standard methods. The result of proximate composition of cookies showed that carbohydrate (47.0-52.36%), protein (16.3-19.6%) and fat (18.5-19.2%) were the major components in the cookie samples. Other components including; moisture (7.7-8.4%), ash (4.1-4.2%) and fibre (0.9-1.8%) were generally low. Anti-nutrient factors of cookie samples ranged from 11.3-17.7mg/100g for Phytate and no traces of oxalates and protease inhibitors in all cookie samples. Control cookie sample had no traces of tannin, flavonoids and saponins, but enriched cookie ranged from 10.3-14.7mg/100g; 3.4-5.7mg/100g and 10.7-15.3mg/100g, respectively. Phytochemical constituents of cookie samples in ORAC ranged from 3.4-12.0mg/100g and alkaloids (3.7-7.7mg/100g). Organoleptic panelists preferred sample X to all other samples, followed by sample A. Inclusion of 10% African walnut flour compared favorably with wheat cookie in terms of sensory quality