20130216639 | PRODUCTION OF COOKIES HAVING LARGE PARTICULATES USING ULTRASONIC WIRECUTTING - A method for the continuous production of cookies having a high content of large inclusions, such as chocolate chips, nuts, and fruit pieces includes extruding a cookie dough containing the inclusions through a die orifice to obtain an extrudate dough rope, and cutting the extrudate dough rope with an ultrasonic cutting blade. The ultrasonic cutting severs the extrudate dough rope into dough pieces which fall onto a moving conveyer into a substantially uniform or regular array for uniform baking. The ultrasonic cutter is controlled to provide a roughened top surface on a dough piece to provide a home baked appearance upon baking, while cutting through the inclusions without substantial displacement of the inclusions which would cause pock marks on the surface of the dough piece, and without substantial dough piece weight variation. | 08-22-2013 |