Every single freakin’ time I try to make tollhouse cookies, or most anything involving a cake or a cookie, the bottom burns! I grease the cookie sheet (or cake pan) and put it in the suggested preheated setting. I’m always as precise as the directions tell me to be. But the freakin’ (I say again!) bottoms always tend to cook at far more accelerated rate than the rest of the sweet delicious desert. So my specials tend to be black bottomed cookies. Any suggestions? What should I be greasing with? Argh.
Are you putting the cookies on the bottom rack? If so, you should be putting them in the middle rack.
I’ve not burned a thing since I got my trusty AirBake cookie sheets.
rindarinda, I put the cookies (or cakes) on the middle rack. I’ve tried it on every rack, in fact. Many failed experiments.
sasha_x, I’ve been meaning to try the Airbake cookie sheets. What do you grease the pan with and how good do the things you bake turn out?
Yeah, the insulated cookie sheets (like the Airbake) totally rule. You won’t burn another bottom with one of those.
remisser, the AirBake sheets are so slick that I don’t really have a problem with sticking. If I’m worried, a shot of cooking spray does the trick. If these pans can survive my killer sticky coconut macaroons, they can do just about anything. 
What color are your pans? Remember that black conducts heat more rapidly than other colors (as anyone who has ever owned a black car can tell you), so non-stick-type pans that are black or dark gray (especially as they get older) conduct heat more readily straight to the bottom of the cookie. I like plain half-sheet pans, which you can get at a restaurant supply store for about six bucks apiece. (I’ve come to think of this sort of bakeware as disposable, so I don’t make much of an investment.)
Greasing the pan too much can also cause burning. One thing to try, if you haven’t, is lining the pan with parchment (available at most grocery stores and any competent gourmet shop).
Do you trust the temperature of your oven? Unless your oven is brand new, and even then, I would invest ten bucks in a decent oven thermometer. Mine (a monstrosity in Harvest Gold, apparently installed when that color was considered attractive) consistently runs 75 degrees hotter than the dial indicates.
Moving the oven rack away from the burners, or putting the cookies on a higher rack, might work. If you have a pizza stone or something in the bottom of the oven, get rid of it (for this purpose). Finally, clean your oven; a dirty oven results in a very unequal distribution of heat.
I dunno about anyone else, but with cookies (never cakes) I tend to take them out just a few minutes before they look “done” because I want them to cool on the pan and they’ll still cook a little while they’re cooling.
I can’t stress the two of these points enough.
Don’t grease your cookie sheets–use parchment. The cookies will peel off the paper without a problem.
Get an oven thermometer. It’s very possible your oven could be way off.
I also like the Air-bake sheets–I never had a problem with burnt cookies, ever, with those.
JavaMaven (ex-pastry chef)
I use airbakes. As far as I know, you can’t burn a cookie with an air-bake cookie sheet. The toll-house recipe doesn’t call for greasing the cookie sheets, so you should stop that. I’ve bought teflon inserts I use on cake pans, but you shouldn’t need them for cookies. A good metal spatula can come in handy, though. And DO get an oven thermometer. Ovens can really be off. You might also check you make sure your oven is level and that you’re getting uniform heat thoughout the oven.
I never bake the cookies until they’re brown on top. They continue to bake a bit after you take them out of the oven, so take them out while they’re still sor of anemic-looking. You just have to play around with it to et the timing right.
Good luck!
StG
I thought for sure and certain that this was a thread about snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef. Wearing my speedos and exposing virgin flesh to the North Queensland sun as I floated, viewing the marvels of coral reefs was in retrospect, among the three most unpleasant experiences of my young life. I couldn’t sit for two weeks.
Yes, the bottom was burnt.
When I make the “toll house” cookies the bottoms rarely get burnt. I use butter flavored crisco instead of butter, and on the cookie sheet I use a silpat. Also try reducing the time that the cookies are baked. If the first batch takes 10 minutes, then the second batch and so forth should only take 8 minutes (if the pan is hot when you put the dough on it) I have a limited number of baking sheets- mainly due to lack of storage space so I use 2 or 3 baking sheets when making cookies. Cooling cookies on the sheet can also lead to burning- use a cooling rack or tinfoil.
Also they are softer if you mix the brown sugar with the butter flavored crisco in the mixer for abot 10 minutes or until it gets a really pale brown color. Then add all the rest of the ingredients. mmmmm yummy 
I think I will have to make cookies tonight.
I don’t grease my non-cooking sheets, and I’ve never had a problem with burned bottoms.
I undercook my cookies just a tad, since I like ooey-gooey-hot from the oven-the chocolate chips can burn your mouth-cookies.
Dammit. Now I have to make cookies tonight.
Another thing to avoid is having side-by-side cookie trays. They can hold the heat below them. The temperature is then low above the sheets and high below. If the thermostat is near the top, it registers a low temperature and bumps the heat, making it quite hot below, burning the bottoms of cookies.
Whoops, didn’t see the date. Sorry about breathing life into the dead.
I thought you’d bumped it to make the joke. But you hadn’t.
Hey, I always go back and read old posts. So it is never quite dead. I just wonder how you found the topic.
Also, as an update, the parchment paper and the light colored pans combined – perfect cookies every single time. I love the SDMB.
No kidding?
I also recommend parchment. It’s easier than greasing, you don’t get burning.
Instead of parchment, try using a silicone mat instead. All you do is slide the mat inside your pan, put the cookie dough on top and bake as usual. The silicone is heat resistant to about 450 to 500 degrees and the cookies slide right off. The clean up is remarkable as well; just rinse and hang to dry.