Baking with convection yields a rounded, taller cookie with a crisp exterior. Even heat created by the air circulating in convection yields the irresistible combination of crunchy and gooey – and some say it’s the secret to the perfect cookie. But, if you prefer a softer, chewy cookie, use Bake mode without convection.
Best Oven for Baking Cookies and Cakes: Top 10 Picks
| Name | Editor’s Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Oster French Convection Home Baking Oven | 5 out of 5 | Check Price |
| COSORI Toaster Oven Combo | 5 out of 5 | Check Price |
| Panasonic NB-G110P-K FlashXpress Toaster Oven | 4.5 out of 5 | Check Price |
| Black+Decker Countertop Convection Oven | 4 out of 5 | Check Price |
Food experts generally do not recommend baking cakes in convection ovens. Cakes rise best with a steady heat; the heat movement adjusts the crumb of the cake and may cause it not to rise properly.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (300 degrees F convection.) Line baking sheets with parchment paper and place equal two 2 1/2-tablespoon portions on the baking sheets 3 inches apart. Use either a cookie scoop or cut the frozen dough into rounds.
What should you not bake in a convection oven?
Don’t use convection for cooking cakes, quick breads, custards, or soufflés.
Baking with convection yields a rounded, taller cookie with a crisp exterior. Even heat created by the air circulating in convection yields the irresistible combination of crunchy and gooey – and some say it’s the secret to the perfect cookie. But, if you prefer a softer, chewy cookie, use Bake mode without convection.
When should you not use convection?
In American baked goods, convection should never be used unless a recipe specifically calls for it. In a home oven, the hot, dry air accelerates crust formation in cakes, cookies, and biscuits which is generally counterproductive to desired rise.
Is it better to bake with convection or regular oven?
The convection bake circulates air, which results in a steady, dry temperature. This means that foods will cook faster and the surface of foods will be dry. While these settings make for a delicious roasted chicken, your cake may not fare so well. For cakes, we recommend using your regular bake mode.
What should I use my convection oven for?
When to use convection. Convection cooking is ideal for foods that do better in a dry climate and where you want to encourage browning and crisping. So roasting meats, potatoes and vegetables are all ideal, and it’s great for reheating things like fried chicken or baking pizza.
Sugar Satisfaction
And when it comes to making the perfect Sugar Cookie, bakers actually prefer convection ovens for that lightly crisp on the outside, soft and moist on the inside effect that turns a simple Sugar Cookie into a gourmet delight!
Multi-Pan Baking: Use Convection
So when baking a full oven, with multiple pans, I find the convection setting to be really helpful. Using a convection fan helps even out the heat flow and allow every tray to bake on the same schedule.
Can you use convection oven to bake brownies?
The hot air also allows chemical reactions that occur during the cooking process, making flakier pie crusts and moist meat with a crispy skin. Convection ovens tend to bake approximately 25 percent faster than conventional ovens. You can use them to make everything from a turkey to brownies.
Rest the Dough A secret baker’s trick is to rest your cookie dough in the fridge. You can rest it for at least an hour, which will evaporate some of the water and increase the sugar content, helping to keep your cookies chewy. The longer you allow your dough to rest in the fridge, the chewier your cookies will be.
Follow our simple tips and techniques and you’ll turn out perfect cookies every time.
- Bake Better Cookies.
- Soften Your Butter.
- Creaming Butter.
- Measure Your Flour Correctly.
- Line Your Pans With Parchment Paper.
- Add Eggs One at a Time.
- Add Flour or Dry Ingredients in Batches.
- Fold in Chocolate Chips by Hand.
How to Fix Cakey Cookies
- Don’t Chill Your Cookies.
- Use Melted Butter instead of Room Temperature Butter.
- Use Less Flour.
- Don’t Beat the Butter and Sugar Too Much.
- Add Baking Soda.
- Decrease Baking Powder.
- Drop the Pan on the Counter a Few Times after Baking.
- Decrease the Amount of Eggs.
What type of oven do professional bakers use?
Convection ovens are one of the most common pieces of commercial bakery equipment. They do a great job of quickly and evenly baking a variety of products, from bread loaves to cookies to cakes, pies, and brownies. Their use of internal fans to circulate the air creates even browning and repeatable results.
What is difference between conventional and convection oven?
In a conventional oven, the dish closest to an active heating element may cook the fastest. In contrast, a convection fan circulates hot air throughout the cavity, reducing the need to rotate dishes from rack to rack.
How do you adjust baking time for a convection oven?
When following recipes for conventional ovens, the formula is this: Reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and reduce the cook time by about 20 percent. To calculate the latter, multiply the cook time in minutes by 0.8.
How long should I bake a cake in a convection oven?
The temperature for baking a cheese cake in convection oven is very important. If the recipe calls for 350 degrees Fahrenheit for baking your cheesecake, then you should take it down to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of an hour in cook time, just cook for 30-40 minutes.
Do you bake brownies on the top or bottom rack?
The middle rack of the oven is the perfect place where air circulates, heat sources are evenly distributed, and tops and bottoms won’t burn or brown too quickly. It’s the perfect place for cakes, cookies and brownies to stay and bake.
Basically, cookies made with butter spread more and are flatter and crisper if baked long enough. However, they are more flavorful than cookies made with shortening. Cookies made with shortening bake up taller and are more tender, but aren’t as flavorful.
Sugars, like fats liquefy in the oven. White sugar will make your cookies crispier while brown sugar contains more moisture and will result in a softer and more chewy cookie. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for both sugars.
The most common cause is using a different flour than usual, such as cake flour, and measuring flour with too heavy a hand. Using larger eggs than called for can make cookies cakey, as will the addition of milk or more milk or other liquids than specified.
2. Prevent Excess Spreading
- Chill your cookie dough. See tip #1 above.
- Use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Never place cookie dough balls onto a hot baking sheet.
- Butter may have been too warm.
- Under-measuring the flour.
- Don’t over-mix the cookie dough.
Why Do Cookies Get Hard? Like all baked treats, cookies are subject to getting stale. Over time, the moisture in the cookies evaporates, leaving them stiff and crumbly. It’s the same thing that happens to breads, muffins, and other baked goods.
Cookies spread because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. If there isn’t enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.
Chocolate chip cookies made with softened butter vs melted butter. In terms of flavor and texture, there’s no difference.
Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They’ll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven’s hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.
Can you bake everything in a convection oven?
The answer is simple: You can cook just about anything in a convection oven, and while learning to use one certainly isn’t a big deal, the results you get—evenly cooked cookies, crisp pastry, and juicy, well-browned meats (including that Thanksgiving turkey)—are.
Is convection good for baking muffins?
It’s better to use the oven without the convection option on when baking quick breads, wet muffin batters, cakes, cupcakes, sandwich breads, and sweet yeast baking. “The convection fan has a tendency to dry the tops of some things,” says Reid.
Do you have to preheat a convection oven?
Yes, all convection ovens need to be preheated. In some modes, more than one element is used during preheat, which can cause the food to burn. The oven will indicate when it has finished a preheat cycle. You should always start with a hot oven or a hot pan.
Does rack position matter in convection oven?
Baking in Convection Ovens
However, if you’re cooking only one thing, it’s still best to have it on the center rack in the middle of the oven. In a nutshell, if you keep your oven rack in the middle your food will cook evenly 95 percent of the time.
What is better for brownies butter or oil?
In brownies, both butter and oil will offer a moist, tender texture, but only butter will give the dish the aeration needed for rising brownies well. If you use a cake brownie, butter is a better option because it helps rise the batter. For denser, fudge type brownies, oil is permissable.
Why do my brownies get hard around the edges?
Overcooking them is often the result of incorrect oven temperature, which causes these sugary treats to harden around the edges. Treating yourself to warm brownies can make your day infinitely better. If you’re in the mood to bake, you can skip the store-bought version and prepare something at home.
Why You Need to Chill Your Cookie Dough. For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they’re in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.
So one way to get the best of both: Use half butter and half shortening. By the way “butter” here is butter. Real butter, not margarine. And “shortening” here is Crisco baking sticks.
Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there’s less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.