Instructions

1. Check your oven temperature. Not all ovens are created equal and if your cookies burn on the bottom, your oven may be running hotter than the average. Place an oven thermometer inside your oven to let you know if the temperature is higher than it should be. If it is, turn the knob down and continue checking until the oven temperature is dead-on.

2. Invest in a heavy-gauge, insulated aluminum baking sheet with a reflective surface. With this type of cookie sheet, there's an insulating pocket of air between the sheet's two layers, which increases heat circulation, so cookies bake evenly throughout. Also, choose a rimless cookie sheet. Rims actually deflect heat, causing uneven baking.

3. Use parchment paper to line your cookie sheet, as it will help the cookies bake evenly.

4. Keep in mind that the thinner the cookie sheet, the more likely your cookies are to burn on the bottom. However, if you have nothing but a thin cookie sheets, use a silicone liner or try doubling up cookie sheets, placing one inside another to create one thick one.

5. Experiment with oven rack placement. Try baking the cookies near the top of the oven, where the temperature is highest, but the bottom of the pan is away from the lower heating element. If this doesn’t deliver the perfect cookie, try the middle rack. If you are baking a double batch with one cookie sheet on the rack below the other, rotate the two at the halfway point in the baking process to give both sheets the opportunity to bake in the hotter air.