Food composition and method for preparing cheese-coated, puffed snacks upon microwave heating

摘要

Disclosed are food compositions and methods for preparing cheese- coated puffed snack products upon simple heating of the food compositions in a consumer microwave oven. The food compositions comprise a plurality of puffable farinaceous dough puff pieces or pellets in a puffing medium throughout which the puff pieces or pellets are dispersed. The puffing medium comprises from about 30% to 90%, by weight of the puffing medium, of an edible fatty triglyceride and from about 10% to 60% by weight of dehydrated cheese solids. The puffing medium contains no more than about 2% by weight reducing sugars. The weight ratio of puffing medium to puff pieces ranges between about 0. 2:1 to 1.3:1. The method of making a cheese- coated snack comprises forming a gelatinized dough, shaping the dough into pieces, partially drying the pieces, dispersing the pieces throughout a puffing medium to form a puffing medium/piece matrix, and microwave heating the matrix to simultaneously puff the pieces and to coat the pieces with the fluidized puffing medium.