Oven-throttling.

[xochitl]

My oven, as some of you already know, is...recalcitrant. Uncooperative. Inexplicable. Baffling. Perhaps even malicious.

I have tried everything in my limited power, and all my stupid chocolate chip cookies keep getting burned on the bottom. It's not so bad with dark chocolate chips, but the white ones are simply impossible.

I've got a convection (fan-forced) oven, in which I can turn the damn fan off. Fan on, fan off, lower element only, upper and lower element, centigrade range from 190 (375 Fahrenheit equivalent) to 150 for when I bothered with the fan-forcing.

Nothing helped. Some cookies were rescuable, but some just were beyond hope.

Advice? I've got a dark-colored teflon cookie pan/sheet thing. I use the higher of my two racks for baking (yes, I know the double entendres abound in that sentence). I don't have a second sheet to use as a buffer, but I've been told that might work. My thermostat might also be inaccurate (read: possessed). And since the bulb's burned out and replacing it requires a certified Mr. Goodwrench technician, I have to keep opening the stupid door to check on baking progress.

Advice? Assistance? Commiseration? No one-upmanship, that'll just make me cross.

Comments

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear it, and that I can't offer any help. I don't bake. I do *eat* chocolate-chip cookies, though. :)

[whulfdan.livejournal.com]

*blink* *blink blink*

You can make cookies *at home*?!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

It seems the temp is too high. Can you get it down to 325 for baking?

My g-ma had one and she swore by it, but she had to do all sorts of modifications due to both it being convection and high altitude, but she got it to work. does this site offer any insight?

I do know the time and temp have to be reduced from regular oven instructions... If you can find INSULATED baking sheets, those are golden. You really have to work hard to burn the bottoms of anything with those. I agree with the doubling up the cookie sheets as an alternative, which will require you to go shopping, it seems. Bah. I'm sorry! I get incredibly frustrated when food gets ruined in the cooking process, too.

[paleologa.livejournal.com]

Try putting a sheet of parchment paper under the cookies and bake them that way - works for me! Note: the stuff is not super cheap, but you can reuse the same sheet under several batches of cookies. Or, if you want to save a tree, invest in a SilPat silicone baking mat - it'll distribute the heat under the cookies a lot more evenly.

Good luck!

[beanish.livejournal.com]

Okay, this might sound weird, but try completely indirect heat. Throw a brick in the oven, crank the heat up and give it like 20 minutes or so. Then, turn the oven off, put the cookies in, and let the heat radiating from the brick do all the work?

It's an extreme solution, I know, but -- I mean, if absolutely nothing else works, extreme measures must be taken!

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

It could be that the temperature gauge on your oven is off - so when it thinks it is the right temperature for cookies, it is actually too high. My oven tends to think it is higher than it is (it has delusions of grandeur) and I have found myself having to adjust temperatures.

FWIW, I find that peeking inside works better than a light, anyway, because the lights are yellowish and can distort perception. Does the oven have a moveable rack? Some ovens are hotter toward the bottom and moving the rack up helps a bit.

My only other rule of thumb is to check more often once you can really smell the baking, because once the smell of baked goods is filling the house, it is getting closer to done.

I hope that helps?

[beanish.livejournal.com]

Oh, one other thought -- get an accurate oven thermometer and use that to recalibrate your oven, making sure the markings on the knob match reality.