If you’re indulging in a delicious cookie, the last thing you want is a soft top and burned bottom.
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If you're indulging in a delicious cookie, the last thing you want is a soft top and burned bottom. No one likes when cookies are too brown on the bottom. Some simple hacks prevent burned cookies, and make for a delicious batch every time.
Prevent Burned Cookies
Several steps in the cooking process can help prevent burned cookies. For example, while you want to use butter in the batter, using butter or nonstick spray to grease your pan can cause over-browning.
Usually cookies have enough fat in them to not stick. If you're concerned about sticking, use parchment paper to line the pan, as it won't promote over-browning. Parchment paper also makes it so sticky ingredients don't make a mess of your pan; it guarantees easy clean up.
Speaking of the baking pan, use a lighter grey or reflective aluminum cookie sheet. When you cook on darker colored pans, you get cookies that are too brown on the bottom. The dark pans absorb heat, and are more likely to result in burned baked goods.
Always place your baking sheet in an oven rack position that's in the middle of the oven. This promotes optimal circulation of heat. Set your oven at about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. K-State Research & Extension note that this is the optimal temperature for caramelizing the top, to reach a nice tan color.
Place only one baking sheet in the oven at a time, too. It may take longer to bake all of your batter, but multiple sheets alter how air flows around your cookies. As a result, cookies on the bottom may brown too much while the ones on top don't cook through.
Be conservative with the timer. Check your cookies a few minutes before the recipe says they'll be done. A finished cookie has a dull shine, but is lightly golden-brown around the edges. The batter should look set, too.
Checking early prevents overcooking, especially on the bottom. If you find they need more cook time, leave them for an extra minute or two, and then check again.
Be a Smart Cookie
Burning your cookies is only one of your concerns when making homemade cookies. Good food handling procedures and smart, healthy eating habits are also important.
When prepping your perfectly-baked cookies, do not sample the raw batter, warns the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Raw doughs, especially those that contain eggs or flour, can contain bacteria that causes foodborne illness. If you really want to skip the baking process, try our No-Bake Honey Peanut Butter Cookies.
When you do indulge in sweet baked goods, such as cookies — homemade or not — make them a sometimes food. A small 2 1/4-inch chocolate chip cookie prepared at home, from a recipe, contains about 78 calories.
While it's perfectly fine to enjoy a treat now and then, cookies and other foods with added sugars should be just that — a treat. The USDA Choose My Plate guidelines suggest you choose foods with lower amounts of added sugar. These 5-ingredient Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from LIVESTRONG.com may be a good choice.
If you do have a cookie, make it only an occasional dessert or snack choice. When you crave a sweet treat, opt for fresh fruit, applesauce or even small portions of no-sugar-added dried fruit, at least most of the time. While cookies aren't off limits, they shouldn't be an everyday food.
FAQs
How can you prevent cookies from burning on the bottom? To begin with, make sure your dough is cold enough. Also, use parchment paper and never put the dough on a warm baking sheet. Lastly, if you oven tends to burn from the bottom, make sure to place the baking sheet into the top third of your oven.
How to make your cookies not burn on the bottom? ›
8 Ways to Prevent Cookies from Burning on the Bottom
- Sugar Control. ...
- The Right Baking Sheet Color. ...
- Ungreased Cookie Sheets. ...
- Parchment-Lined Cookie Sheets. ...
- Oven Rack Position. ...
- One Sheet at a Time. ...
- The Sacrificial Cookie. ...
- Baking Time.
The easy fix here is to add more flour to the dough, little by little, until it sticks well to the mixer. Be sure you're using a thick, good quality baking sheet, too, as thin dark ones promote browning and will cause cookies to bake faster and burn more easily. Use parchment paper to avoid over-greasing the pan.
Why are my cookies not cooked on the bottom? ›
your oven: it might not be preheating to the set temperature and might be going way above that or you are setting your oven to a very high temperature, too high for your cookies. oven rack position: if you are baking your cookies on the bottom rack of the oven, they might have too much heat directed to the bottom.
Why does my baking always burn on the bottom? ›
You probably need a better pan. A light colored air bake pan is best. A dark metal pan will burn the bottom of your baked goods. Otherwise, maybe cooking longer at lower temperature could help.
How to stop food burning on the bottom? ›
Start with a low heat and then gradually turn to medium or high. Or, if you like your food a little charred, you can start with high heat, and then switch it to medium and low to finish cooking. Stirring is also a great way to prevent your food from burning as it doesn't let the food stick to the bottom of the pan.
How do you keep cookies from getting hard on the bottom? ›
Here's a baker's trick you'll find in our new Monster Cookies recipe: Adding a piece of fresh white bread to the storage container will keep cookies from becoming hard or stale.
How to cook the bottom of a cookie? ›
A pre-heated baking tray will start cooking the bottom of your cookies as soon as they hit the tray, helping to set them and avoiding further spread. A cold tray will take some time to heat up when it goes in the oven, allowing the cookie to melt slowly and spread before it gets a chance to cook.
What is the best temperature to bake cookies? ›
Cookie temperatures fluctuate, with some recipes as low as 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a few as high as 425 degrees Fahrenheit, but most recipes land on 375 or 350 to evenly bake the entirety of the cookie.
How to avoid burning the bottom of biscuits? ›
To prevent the bottom of your biscuits from burning, you can use a light-colored baking sheet, line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and place the biscuits in the middle or upper rack of the oven. Additionally, you can lower the baking temperature and extend the baking time.
It's this stage that gives parchment paper its unique properties, including a significant degree of heat resistance. Kana parchment paper, for example, can safely be used in ovens up to 428°F (220°C) without burning.
Why does the bottom of my pan always burn? ›
There are two ways non stick pans can get burnt: dry heating and overheating. Dry heating occurs when you expose your pan to heat for extended periods of time with nothing in it. To avoid dry heating, always add cooking fat or other ingredients to your pan before turning the heat on.
How do I stop my muffins from burning on the bottom? ›
the secret is adding a few grains of rice in the bottom of each mold. add the liners add the batter and bake. I baked one with the rice and one without it so you can see the difference. And save the rice you may be able to use it one or 2 more times.
How do I keep the bottom of my biscuits from burning? ›
To prevent the bottom of your biscuits from burning, you can use a light-colored baking sheet, line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and place the biscuits in the middle or upper rack of the oven. Additionally, you can lower the baking temperature and extend the baking time.
How to stop cake burning on the bottom? ›
Stop using metal pans. Metal absorbs the heat causing the cake to take the heat from the oven and pan, causing it to burn. If this doesn't help, try a lower heat and add more eggs and milk, this will thin the batter and cause it to cook more slowly.
Why are my cookies burning on the inside? ›
Though too high of an oven temperature or a prolonged baking time are the most common culprits of burnt cookies, they aren't the only ones. Burnt cookies can also be caused by the wrong proportions of ingredients.
Does foil burn the bottom of cookies? ›
Here's how it works: Because aluminum is a heat conductor, the part of the cookie that is directly touching the aluminum foil (i.e. the bottom) will receive more heat and, thus, bake faster. So, the end result will be super crispy bottoms and not-quite-done middles.
