Most people want things to be simple and it is much simpler to use a toaster oven rather than heat up an entire oven for a pan of cookies. New cooks often ask the question can you bake cookies in a toaster oven?
The short answer is yes, you can bake cookies in a toaster oven. However, there are some things to consider such as what kind of toaster oven are you using, does your toaster oven have specific temperature setting needed to bake cookies and do you have the right pan to make the cookies.
What kind of toaster oven are you using?
The type of toaster oven you own dictates how you bake your cookies. Some are designed to be more like a traditional oven while others were created to focus on toasting. Those that have temperature settings and timers work best for cookies.
Those that simply have the toaster setting can still be used, but you will need to experiment to see how much heat each setting produces and the length of time it runs.
Is it calibrated?
Ovens can be big liars when it comes to temperatures. That’s because many, whether they are regular size ovens or toaster ovens, are not calibrated.
You should test your oven with an oven thermometer. Heat your oven to the standard 350 temperature and with the thermometer inside. Then see if the thermometer has the correct temperature. If your oven is quirky, make some adjustments to your baking time.
There still could be an issue of one side or the front or back baking hotter than other parts of the oven. You can adjust where you put your cookie sheet.
How many cookies are you baking?
While a toaster oven is fine for one small batch of cookies, it isn’t appropriate to use it to make cookies for the whole children’s baseball team.
Do you have the right pans?
A toaster oven requires smaller cookie sheets. It is best to put one pan in the middle of the oven rather than use both racks that are sometimes found in larger toaster ovens. Cookies baking on the bottom rack will likely get too brown.
Three Tricks to Making Toaster Oven Cookies
- Don’t use parchment paper to bake them. Parchment paper isn’t meant to be used in a toaster oven. It says so on the box.You can use parchment paper to put your cookies on after you bake them.
- Don’t cut a baking mat to fit your toaster oven. The mesh fiberglass will get into your cookies! Buy one that fits your cookie sheet or simply grease the pan for the cookies.
- Bake a test cookie. Do one cookie but check it about four minutes early on the timer. Most toaster ovens run a little hotter than a regular oven, so you might want to cut three or four minutes off the listed recipe baking time.
Conclusion
Can you bake cookies in a toaster oven? Absolutely. It’s super simple to use your toaster oven to quickly bake a batch of cookies. The secret is getting to know your oven’s capabilities and limitations and adjusting your recipe to fit your oven’s unique settings. Have fun baking!
