For the past week-and-a-half, the gas in my apartment building has been disconnected (as those who know me are surely sick of hearing about). Finally, after much frustration, complaining, and crying (yes, really), the light shone through the clouds: why not try to bake in a toaster oven? In a tiny apartment equipped with an unusually small oven, it seemed appropriate to downsize yet again, in the name of cookies needing to be baked.
It bears noting that my oven is actually brand-new; the old one was replaced a couple of months ago. However, newness does not, in fact, guarantee a good oven. My apartment’s internal temperature still rises 20 degrees when I preheat. Cakes still come out unevenly browned unless I rotate them frequently and diligently (and, honestly, who can devote 40 minutes solely to watching a cake bake?), and cookies in the back of the oven emerge with crispier bottoms than those fortunate enough to bake up front.
The fact remains that, for larger projects like cakes or dinners for more than one, using the oven, however unreliable, is mandatory. For smaller baked goods, though, I’d like to speak up in favor of the toaster oven. Its small size allows it to reach the desired temperature quickly, nearly eliminating the need for preheating and taking less time to recover when the door has been opened. I would also assert that the size also makes for more even baking, as the heat is contained and circulates in a smaller area. It also precludes the inevitable overheating of the kitchen (and entire apartment, in my case).
Another benefit is that a small batch of cookies (in this case, butterscotch-white chocolate, courtesy of Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook) bakes in 7-8 minutes, rather than 12. As a result, if you make a smaller batch, or want to freeze half of the dough, you can bake what you do want quickly.
Perhaps the most compelling reason to use a toaster oven, though, is the quality of the finished product. After several false starts, and according adjustments to baking time, the resulting cookies were nicely caramelized on the outside, soft but not under-done on the inside, and the bottoms were browned but not tough, lending an appealingly chewy dimension.
Another nice surprise was the baking sheet included in the box: it’s surprisingly sturdy, fits perfectly into the oven, and contributes to that great texture on the underside of the cookies. The only con: I’ve been unable to find a silicon baking sheet that will fit its dimensions, so will be using parchment paper for the foreseeable future.
I acknowledge that, in a city where space is at a premium, one may not willingly relinquish kitchen real estate to a toaster oven. At present, mine is perched atop my useless stove. But why not give it a try? The perks of having a back-up oven are incidental; you might find, as I did, that the resulting goodies are worth the loss of counter space.
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