Burned 3 dozen cookies before I figured out my oven thermometer was off by 45 degrees

I kept following these viral cookie recipes from a baker I follow on Instagram, and every batch came out flat and dark. For two months I thought I just had bad luck or bad ingredients. Then last Sunday my neighbor came over while I was baking and pointed out my oven thermometer was sitting right against the heating element. She grabbed her cheap laser temp gun and showed me the real temp was 45 degrees higher than what I set. Has anyone else baked with a wonky oven for way too long without realizing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancybailey2d ago

Holy cow. Forty five degrees? That's wild. I had a similar thing happen but not with baking. My old gas oven would swing 30 degrees depending on where you stood. Drove me nuts for six months. Finally got a standalone oven thermometer and checked it in the middle. That was a game changer. But yours being right on the element? No wonder everything burned.

jessica_hall492d ago

And that's exactly why I don't trust new appliances either honestly. It's like everything's designed to look good but not actually work right. I've noticed this pattern with so many things in my house - my washing machine has a million settings but can't get clothes clean, my fridge beeps at me if I leave the door open for five seconds but the ice maker breaks every year. It's all flash and no function. The old stuff was simple and you knew what you were getting. So yeah, your oven story just proves the point that sometimes the basic things are what really matter, not the fancy features.

hugoh552d ago

Forty five degrees? That's wild" yeah I read once that ovens can drift way off and nobody ever checks.