8 Ways to Prevent Cookies from Burning on the Bottom (2024)

If you "accidentally" add too much sugar to your dough, it can cause the bottom of your cookie to caramelize and burn.

Hyvee Dietitian Expert Tip

Looking to cut down on sugar? For most baking recipes, you can reduce the sugar by 25 percent without affecting the taste or texture.

Hy-Vee Dietitians

Darker color pans absorb heat and can cause the cookie bottoms to burn. Instead, choose lighter gray or heavy dull-aluminum baking sheets.

Contrary to what you might think, using nonstick spray or butter to grease your pans can cause cookies to over brown. As a rule of thumb, cookies typically have enough fat in them to prevent them from sticking to the pan.

A baker's best friend is parchment paper. It keeps cookie sheets clean, and if your using ooey-gooey mix-ins, it keeps them from sticking to the pan.

Make sure your oven rack is not too close to the bottom of the oven. Cookies like to be right in the center for optimal heat circulation.

Cookies also like their space. More than one cookie sheet will alter the airflow to your cookies, causing the ones on the bottom to over brown.

Get to know your oven by baking a single test cookie. This will indicate if there are any issues with your set up.

When baking cookies, set the timer just a few minutes before the lowest cook time. Without opening the oven, turn the oven light on and check to see if the cookies need more time. The cookies are done when they have set, have a dull shine, and are lightly golden brown around the edges.