How to Cook Cookies Using an Oven Toaster

Chocolate chips cookies are one of the ultimate comforts for any family afternoons. Traditionally, they evoke a mental image of huge ovens, crispy edges dipped in milk, and the instant joy from their distinctive scent.

However, if you don’t have a full-sized oven, you don’t need to give up on this simple pleasure.

Surely it will take a lot longer to get 50 cookies ready for a bake sale – but it’s perfectly possible to learn how to cook cookies using an oven toaster.

Recipes abound, but the basic principles will remain the same.

Cookies on a Toaster Oven: Materials and Supplies

Each family in the country likely has its own cookie recipe. However, most rely on the same essential ingredients.

Treat them as a reference only, though: amounts and proportions will change every time – and you can substitute anything on this list.

• Flour (either all-purpose or a mix of flours)
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Sugar (of different types
• Butter
• Eggs
• Crunchy bits – from chocolate chips to poppy seeds, nuts, and oats

As for the materials needed to make cookies on a toaster oven, these are easier to define. In addition to a toaster oven, you will need:

• A hand mixer or stand mixer
• A baking pan
• Non-stick parchment paper
• Tongs
• Oven mittens

How to Use Your Toaster Oven to Make Cookies: A Step by Step Guide

Now, it’s time to take all these ingredients and turn them into a fun baked treat.

Look for a recipe

Cookies can be chewy, crunchy, or even cakey. None of these textures is the correct one, as it all depends on which one hits that sweet spot you’re craving.

To get your cookies to feel right, you will need to use the correct proportions of ingredients. You can land on the right amounts through trial and error, but it will take less time if you start with a recipe.

Here, we will be working with a basic chocolate chip cookies recipe. Depending on what you are after, you can modify the proportions to tweak the end result:

• Adding extra melted butter or oil will create chewy, soft cookies
• Cut down the oil and increase the sugar to get thin, crunchy cookies – think of biscotti
• Baking soda and more extended, less intense heat will create an open thicker cookie
• If you want something that stays the same size and shape easily, skip the egg and add more sugar.

Mix Butter and Sugar

No matter which recipe you are after, the first step will always be to mix butter and sugar. Some recipes keep their sugar simple, while others require you to mix equal parts white sugar, brown sugar, or even molasses.

Mix the two and run them through the hand mixer for a few minutes. At the very least, you want the butter to feel airy and the sugar crystals to dissolve.

Then, add the egg and any liquid flavorings you may be using (such as vanilla essence) to this mixture and mix for one more minute.

Mix dry ingredients

The next step is to mix your “dry ingredients”: flour, baking soda and salt. Most recipes keep things simple by just using all-purpose flour.

However, more sophisticated recipes will often add cocoa powder, whole wheat flour, cornflour, or even quick oats or rye flour. Any of these will affect the end texture.

Mix both batches

Now comes the fun part. It’s time to mix the results from steps 2 and 3 – the sugary butter mix and all your flours.

The best way to do this is, bit by bit, using a wooden spoon. Make sure not to overmix it: too much battering will add air into the mixture, which will create a brownie.

Add tidbits of flavour

While the resulting dough is still relatively coarse, it’s time to add any tidbits of flavour that your recipe calls for.

For chocolate chip cookies, this is the time to add the chocolate bits. Other recipes call for nuts, chestnuts, raisins, dried blueberries or poppy seeds.

Prepare the pan and oven

The cookie dough is almost ready, but it still needs to be shaped. If you are leaving the baking for later, this is the time to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and to put it in the refrigerator.

If you want to bake right away, prepare the pan and oven right away:

First, line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Second, start the toaster oven bake function. Set the desired temperature (it should be listed in the recipe, or between 350° to 375° F). Then, set the timer for 5 or 7 minutes to begin preheating.

Shape the cookies

While the oven preheats, scoop the dough onto the prepared pan or parchment paper. In most toaster ovens, you should be able to fit 6 to 8 tablespoon-sized cookies inside the tray.

Flatten them slightly, but don’t roll them. Make sure you leave enough space between them!

Bake

As soon as the timer rings and your toaster oven finishes preheating, open the oven and slide the baking pan inside.

Check your recipe to know the total baking time. It will depend on the thickness of your cookies and the type of dough. For example, a cakier cookie will use a lower temperature for a slightly longer time.

Usually, it will range between 8 and 15 minutes.

Conclusion

Toaster oven cookie recipes abound all over the internet, so if you weren’t lucky enough to inherit a family recipe, you’re not out of luck.

Feel free to modify whatever you find and continue improving it: this could become part of your new family’s legacy.

Thanks to toaster ovens, you no longer need a huge kitchen in order to enjoy baking.  If you don’t have one yet, why not explore some of the best ones the market has to offer?