Today was my first day back to class after a month-long break. I know I don’t post much about my classes—I don’t want to sound like a high schooler talking about her day on Live Journal ’cause I’ve, uh, been there, done that—but I wanted to share this really cool assignment we have in my Food Science and Technology lab.

Each of four groups had to choose a “theme” for a product to develop in class: reduced sodium, reduced fat, reduced sugar, or the inclusion of a functional ingredient. We have to identify current products on the market and create a version that tastes, looks, and feels as close as possible while staying within the constraints of our requirements.

My group was assigned to work with a functional ingredient. While I have mixed feelings about fortified snack foods, my interest was piqued when our professor shared a story about a doctor at another university who’s been researching the effects of omega-3-fortified cookies on colitis patients. Only problem is, the cookies don’t taste so great. My professor is encouraging us to make a product that tastes good but also delivers a good dose of the desired nutrient.

So we’re thinking ginger snaps. Now we just have to locate several commercially-available brands to taste test and mimic. At first, I was really against making sweet stuff because I hate to bake (so f-ing tedious!), but I’m really curious to see how this is going to go. I love playing around with recipe modification.