Why You Can Trust CNET This baker's trick doubles your oven capacity
Making a zillion cookies this holiday season? You'll love this tip.
A cooling rack works for baking cookies, too.
I'm one of those people who make mountains of cookies for the holidays. Most ovens -- like mine -- will only fit one large cookie sheet per rack. If there are only two racks in your oven, that makes for slow cookie baking, and that just won't do during the holidays. If only you had a couple more racks, right? Well, you probably do.
How to add extra baking racks to your oven
If you have cooling racks, you can use them as makeshift racks in your oven, doubling your productivity. Here's how:
- Line your cooling racks (raised ones like this) with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat and set the cookie dough on it like you would a cookie sheet.
- Preheat your oven, then put a baking sheet of cookies on your oven rack.
- Place the cooling rack over the cookie sheet so that the legs of the cooling rack are on either side of the cookie sheet, firmly on the oven rack.
- Bake as usual.
I tried the trick with several batches of cookies in my electric oven and they all came out perfectly. It will also work with gas and convection ovens. The trick is to make sure there are a couple of inches between the cookie sheet and the bottom of the cooling rack so the heat can circulate.
Cooling your cookies
Now, you may be wondering where you'll cool your cookies if you use your racks in the oven. Grab a couple of extras to use in the oven the next time you're at the store and you'll be all set for your next cookie adventure.
Update, Nov. 15, 2017: This article was first published on Dec. 13, 2016 and has since been updated.
