LAUSR

This study aimed to investigate the impact of fennel seeds (FS) and black cumin seeds (BS) addition into the formulation of conventional and microwave-baked biscuits on the nutritional, physical, and sensory properties. Microwave biscuits were baked at 700 W for 90 s. Antioxidant activity DPPH·, ABTS·+, and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were evaluated by using a UNICO UV-2100 spectrophotometer, acrylamide content was evaluated using UPLC–ESI–MS/MS. The results indicated that microwave-baked biscuits have higher antioxidant activities DPPH·, ABTS·+, TPC, moisture, and breaking strength and lower acrylamide content compared to conventional-baked biscuits. However, the addition of BS gradually decreased the acrylamide content from 355.2 µg/kg in control samples to 138.6 µg/kg in conventional-baked biscuits and from 306.9 µg/kg in control samples to 97.8 µg/kg in microwave-baked ones. Meanwhile, with FS biscuits, acrylamide is decreased to the minimum limit of the quantitation in microwave-baked biscuits and 38%, 61%, and 78% in conventional-baked ones at 2%, 4%, 6% FS respectively. Correspondingly, FS samples had higher antioxidant activities in DPPH·, ABTS·+ and TPC. Acrylamide was correlated to ABTS·+, DPPH·, and colour values on high negative levels (r = − 0.914, − 0.943, − 0.947 and − 0.943) at P < 0.01. High antioxidants activity and low acrylamide content indicated the advantages of microwave-baking and addition of FS or BS to biscuit formulation and they could be used in food industries as a potential plant source antioxidant as well as enhancing the sensory properties of the biscuits.