How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven Perfectly – A Detailed Guide

Last Updated on October 14, 2021 by Boniface Muriuki

Do you want to learn exceptional tips on how to bake cookies in a convection oven? Well, the art of achieving perfect baked cookies lies in several aspects, including mixing the ingredients, convection oven temperature, dough items, kneading, cookie-cutter pans, and baking procedure.

This article provides the best tips on how to bake cookies in a convection oven. Read on to learn more.

How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven: But What is a Convection Oven?

So what is a convection oven, and what makes it different from the others? 

A convection oven has a small fan whose function is to distribute the heat evenly inside the appliance so that the food is heated uniformly. Furthermore, with this system, cooking is accelerated, working 20% faster than other ovens.

So keep in mind that both the cooking times and temperatures of the food must be lower in the convection oven compared to what would be used in a traditional one. 

Immediately you start cooking with a convection oven, decrease the temperature indicated in the kitchen recipes or cooking instructions on food packaging by 20 or 25 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, you can also reduce the recommended cooking time by a third.

How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven: A Detailed Guide

How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven – Ingredients

• Two eggs
• 250 grams of butter or margarine
• 600 grams of flour 0000 (4 zeros)
• 400 grams of sugar (2 cups)
• One teaspoon of baking powder
• One pinch of salt
• One teaspoon of vanilla essence 
• One handful of lemon zest
• + 500g of pastry flour
• + 6 tablespoons of milk

How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven – Preparation

Step One

To get started with the dough, grab a bowl and sift the flour, sugar, and baking powders. Then add the margarine at room temperature to make it easier to mix. Also, add the lemon zest.

Now, do what in pastry we call sandblasting the dough, that is, mix the margarine with the flour with your hands, in such a way that it gradually dissolves and the flour remains with a gritty and crumbled texture. 

When preparing the dough, add milk little by little, not all at once. And work the dough on a layer of flour so that it does not catch.

Meanwhile, preheat the convection oven to 180 ºC. This will help ensure that they will bake evenly.

Step Two

When done, make a hole in the middle of the dough and pour the eggs along with the vanilla essence.

Mix everything well and, when the dough begins to get more compact, knead with your hands. You will have to knead until all the ingredients are integrated, and a moist and soft dough is formed. Let it rest for a few minutes covered with a clean cloth.

Step Three

When the dough for the cookies has slightly increased in volume, sprinkle a little flour on the table and knead it again until you can spread it on the surface and roll it out with the help of a rolling pin.

Next, cut the butter cookies into the shape you want. If you do not have a cookie sheet, cut them with the mouth of a glass and make them round. The final number of the baked cookies will vary based on the size you give them, but they should come out in 4-5 trays.

Step Four

With the oven preheated at 180 degrees, insert the cookie sheet into the middle of the oven. And you leave the cookies baking for about 15 minutes at 160 degrees. (always use heat resistant gloves to protect your hands from heat-induced injuries).

Depending on the power of your oven, they may take less time, but you should watch them, so they don’t burn. When they are golden brown, carefully remove them from the oven and let them cool.

Step Five

As you can see, this is a simple recipe that will allow you to make delicious butter cookies. You can use icing sugar to make decorated cookies or enjoy these easy cookies without anything else. 

Unique Tips on How to Bake Cookies  in a Convection Oven

• The Ingredients

Whenever you want to make perfect cookies, the ideal is that the ingredients are of good quality. Follow the recipe to the letter and do not add the ingredients without measuring them; this way, you will prevent adding too much flour or too much butter. Mix all ingredients at room temperature. Take special care of the temperature of the butter.

• The Dough

Knead your dough with your hands and not with a mixer so that it will be less elastic. Be careful not to knead it too much; just do it until it stops sticking to your fingers when you do. If you see it cracked, it may have too much flour, in which case you can add a little more butter to balance.

Do not stretch the dough for cookies while it is at room temperature, and it can be very soft and more difficult to handle. Chill it for a while in the fridge, and you’ll see how it becomes much more manageable. 

When stretching it, do it on baking paper, this will help it not stick to the surface where we are stretching it. Use that same baking paper to put the cookies in the oven, so you don’t have to worry about moving and breaking them in the process.

• Preparation of Cookies

When you finally start cutting your shortbread cookies, sprinkle the molds with flour so that the dough does not stick when you cut them. All cookies must be of the same thickness. A measuring roller can help you make the dough the right consistency. Take care that each cookie is the same size, so you will avoid having some that are raw or too baked in the preparation.

• Temperature Tricks

When the cookies are ready, please don’t take them out all at once. Wait for them to cool down a bit before removing them from the convection oven, the probability of them breaking will decrease. The surface where you bake the cookies should be at room temperature.

How to Bake Cookies in a Convection Oven: Final Words

Once your cookies are ready, they won’t last long if you don’t know how to preserve them properly. To keep them delicious and fresh longer put them in an airtight container. 

Let them cool before storing; otherwise, the texture may be damaged. Cookies usually last a few months, but will always be fresher in the first two weeks after you make them.