I've taken on some new responsibilities, including watching another child four days a week, and it seems as if time is no longer the abundant commodity it used to be for me.
Tuesdays are my crazy days, as I clean our church and give 5 piano lessons, in addition to child-sitting. Wouldn't you know that I realized Monday night that my stash of frozen muffins and cookies for Ben's breakfasts and lunches was depleted... So Tuesday morning I was up with the chickens to make muffins and cookies. I re-discovered a little secret that I had learned at a friend's house.
I baked 48 cookies in 8 minutes!
This isn't exactly rocket science, but if you have pans that will sit side-by-side in your oven, you can bake a lot more cookies than a single pan in one shot!
Move both oven racks to your two center-most positions. In my oven, I have 5 positions, so I moved them to positions #2 and #3. I figure I can see if the top is burning a lot easier than I can check the bottom of the cookie.
Load up 4 trays with cookie dough, place them in two to a rack, then set your timer for half of the baking time prescribed in your recipe.
At half-time, switch the trays rack #2 to rack #3, and the cookies from rack #3 to rack #2. This will promote even baking. Reset your timer for the remainder of the baking time minus a minute. I find that the top will be done sooner than the bottom rack, and should be removed a minute or less sooner.
I know this is simple but it works for me, and it is a great time-saver that you might be scared to try. I mean... they are cookies, and who in their right mind would waste 4 dozen cookies in an attempt to save time? :)
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2 lovely comments:
Switching and rotating the baking position has become standard practice for me too. Sometimes I have to add a minute or two to account for having the oven door open.
Another tip is make your dough, scoop your cookies onto a cookie sheet w/parchment paper and flash freeze them in the freezer. Once they are firm, you can throw them all in a ziploc or container and pull them out to cook when ready.
You're making me hungry!
Great idea! I too switch and rotate but it's only with 2 pans. I guess if I purchased more pans I could do this. :)
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