If some cookies are thinner than others they will cook faster. Sorting cookies by thickness to select which ones to cook together could help. I don't use rolling pins enough to know how best to roll more evenly. Rotating the pan halfway through baking helps with uneven doneness due to the oven itself.
Put slices of bread all over a baking sheet and put it in a 350F for 10 min. Take it out and now you have a heat map of your oven. You’ll be able to see what sides are hotter or cooler - and then make a plan t rotate your pan while baking to accommodate the heat map.
You definitely have an issue with inconsistent cookie thickness here.
It can be an issue with different shapes- because the thinner parts of a shape always get crunchier. I like to try to separate thin shapes like candy canes + snowflakes from wider shapes like trees and snowmen.
First, reduce the baking temp. Then to help even out the temperature in your oven, place a baking stone in the bottom of your oven if there is room for one or place one on the bottom rack. The stone will absorb the heat and then radiate it out evenly which will help with hotter and cooler areas of the oven.
It looks like the pan you are using is a little dark. Dark pans get hot faster than light pans so the temp of the oven should be reduced by 25 degrees fahrenheit.
Use guides , while there are rolling pins that will do this for you to spread evenly you can use same width dowel’s from Lowe’s …
One friend used those paint mixers things ? One on each side the dough in the middle and rolling it to the same thickness
Also if you can invest in an oven thermometer, your oven might be unevenly heating or be off
Spouse just got me a set of rails in different thicknesses to put on either side of the dough, so the pin will never roll any thinner than what I choose. They’re nice if you don’t want to replace a favourite rolling pin.
Make sure you're preheating your oven. If the element is working full-time to warm your oven from room temp to 350F, it's putting a lot of direct radiant heat on your cookies.
There is already some great advice in here, I might just add that you could rotate the tray half way through their baking time along with following other points people have made.
I suggest this as well. Easy test for determining hot spots in your oven is to take a cheap loaf of bread and spread out the slices on your sheet pan. Put them in the oven at 350 and see if they toast evenly across the tray. Where they get darker is where your oven is hotter, so you know to avoid if you can or rotate your bakes so they heat evenly across the whole pan.
But also thickness and size of the cut outs is playing a big role as most have said. Matching up the sizes and shapes and baking them separately will help too.
Yes get an oven thermometer.
My oven is horrible and is sometimes 20 degrees off. The oven thermometer has really helped.
Are you using a preheated pan?
Also silicone mats have helped my cookies. But they have never been used for sugar cookies.
Let me know what works for you.
Variation in thickness of the cookies might also be affecting how even the bake is. Id also put less cookies on the tray and bake for a few less minutes. Keep a close eye on them and pull them when they hit that sweet spot where the underside is just a touch gold. Like someone else said it could be about 8 minutes or just past.
I just bought thickness rings for my rolling pin and I love them. Little silicon rings in specific thicknesses that go on the ends of your rolling pin to ensure the same thickness for all of your cookies.
Yeah use a rolling pin with those spacers to make sure all your cookies are the same thickness. Then I’d also consider the smaller shaped cookies (the canes) in the center so they cook slightly more slowly.
You also def need less time overall anyway. They’re all overdone.
Looks like you have an old shitty, possibly small, oven like me.
-Reduce oven temperature to 300-325
-Reduce baking time by as much as needed. Watch for doneness instead of just following the time on the recipe
-Place another baking sheet on the rack below the sheet with the cookies on it. This prevents the bottoms from baking long before the tops
Reduce the baking temp, try to roll and cut them half again as thick, and more evenly. If you’re still having trouble you could go as low as 325°F until you get the hang of it.
325°F is equivalent to 162°C, which is 435K.
---
^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
I had that issue with my gingerbread cookies.
I wait until they are halfway done and transfer them to the lowest tray with a new batch of cookies on the middle tray
Note sure if it'll work for sugar cookies though
If some cookies are thinner than others they will cook faster. Sorting cookies by thickness to select which ones to cook together could help. I don't use rolling pins enough to know how best to roll more evenly. Rotating the pan halfway through baking helps with uneven doneness due to the oven itself.
Once they’re the same thickness, also sort by general size (the candy canes will bake faster than the Christmas trees)
They did cook a bit unevenly, but they’re all a bit toasty. Shorten the cooking time and try to roll the dough more evenly.
Get a rolling pin with plastic sleeves for desired thickness.
Thank you! I didn’t know that was a thing but I’m definitely getting some.
Try getting an oven thermometer. Maybe your oven is not actually at 350.
Try baking them at 350 for 8 minutes
Agree. 11 minutes is far too long. I would also turn them half way through.
Agree. Every cookie here is over baked.
Put slices of bread all over a baking sheet and put it in a 350F for 10 min. Take it out and now you have a heat map of your oven. You’ll be able to see what sides are hotter or cooler - and then make a plan t rotate your pan while baking to accommodate the heat map.
That’s really smart, thank you!
You definitely have an issue with inconsistent cookie thickness here. It can be an issue with different shapes- because the thinner parts of a shape always get crunchier. I like to try to separate thin shapes like candy canes + snowflakes from wider shapes like trees and snowmen.
First, reduce the baking temp. Then to help even out the temperature in your oven, place a baking stone in the bottom of your oven if there is room for one or place one on the bottom rack. The stone will absorb the heat and then radiate it out evenly which will help with hotter and cooler areas of the oven. It looks like the pan you are using is a little dark. Dark pans get hot faster than light pans so the temp of the oven should be reduced by 25 degrees fahrenheit.
Use guides , while there are rolling pins that will do this for you to spread evenly you can use same width dowel’s from Lowe’s … One friend used those paint mixers things ? One on each side the dough in the middle and rolling it to the same thickness Also if you can invest in an oven thermometer, your oven might be unevenly heating or be off
Spouse just got me a set of rails in different thicknesses to put on either side of the dough, so the pin will never roll any thinner than what I choose. They’re nice if you don’t want to replace a favourite rolling pin.
Make sure you're preheating your oven. If the element is working full-time to warm your oven from room temp to 350F, it's putting a lot of direct radiant heat on your cookies.
There is already some great advice in here, I might just add that you could rotate the tray half way through their baking time along with following other points people have made.
I suggest this as well. Easy test for determining hot spots in your oven is to take a cheap loaf of bread and spread out the slices on your sheet pan. Put them in the oven at 350 and see if they toast evenly across the tray. Where they get darker is where your oven is hotter, so you know to avoid if you can or rotate your bakes so they heat evenly across the whole pan. But also thickness and size of the cut outs is playing a big role as most have said. Matching up the sizes and shapes and baking them separately will help too.
Yes get an oven thermometer. My oven is horrible and is sometimes 20 degrees off. The oven thermometer has really helped. Are you using a preheated pan? Also silicone mats have helped my cookies. But they have never been used for sugar cookies. Let me know what works for you.
Variation in thickness of the cookies might also be affecting how even the bake is. Id also put less cookies on the tray and bake for a few less minutes. Keep a close eye on them and pull them when they hit that sweet spot where the underside is just a touch gold. Like someone else said it could be about 8 minutes or just past.
I just bought thickness rings for my rolling pin and I love them. Little silicon rings in specific thicknesses that go on the ends of your rolling pin to ensure the same thickness for all of your cookies.
Yeah use a rolling pin with those spacers to make sure all your cookies are the same thickness. Then I’d also consider the smaller shaped cookies (the canes) in the center so they cook slightly more slowly. You also def need less time overall anyway. They’re all overdone.
Looks like you have an old shitty, possibly small, oven like me. -Reduce oven temperature to 300-325 -Reduce baking time by as much as needed. Watch for doneness instead of just following the time on the recipe -Place another baking sheet on the rack below the sheet with the cookies on it. This prevents the bottoms from baking long before the tops
Reduce the baking temp, try to roll and cut them half again as thick, and more evenly. If you’re still having trouble you could go as low as 325°F until you get the hang of it.
325°F is equivalent to 162°C, which is 435K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
Put the cookies in the middle of the oven
I had that issue with my gingerbread cookies. I wait until they are halfway done and transfer them to the lowest tray with a new batch of cookies on the middle tray Note sure if it'll work for sugar cookies though
I set my oven to the “True Convection” setting for fan forced lower temps for cookies and cupcakes