at once? I'm wondering if I'm ridiculous in waiting to put only one cookie sheet in the center of the oven at a time.

It depends on the type of oven you have. I have a true convection oven and instead of heating from the bottom it blows air through the entire oven at a constant temperature so I can bake as many cookies as I can fit in there. If you have a traditional oven then I would only put one pan in at a time. Otherwise your cookies will not bake evenly and you will have some that are not done while others are burned. I hope this helps.

When I baked at home, I would put two in but I would rotate them.

For example, let's just say the cookies had to bake for 20 minutes. I'd put one sheet on the top rack. After 10 minutes, I'd put a 2nd sheet on the bottom rack. 10 mins later, the top one is done, so I take that out, and move the bottom rack sheet to the top rack for it's last 10 minutes of baking. Put a new sheet on the bottom rack. So every 10 minutes, I'm moving the top sheet out, the bottom sheet up and a new sheet on the bottom. Bear in mind that I was baking 10 or 15 sheets of cookies on a daily basis back then, so saving 10 minutes on 10 sheets was cutting my baking time by over an hour.

I have a normal big oven. Today I put 1-10" round & 2-8" rounds in at the same time. They always bake up beautifully~ I've put different sizes in at a time & I will sometimes have to take some out before others but they still turn out fine~ Saves me time & that's always good

I asked myself the same question the other day and decided to try it yesterday. I have a large order for next week and needed to speed up the process, so I got brave and tried two sheets at a time. Guess what?? No problem! Wish I'd thought of it before! Sounds like indydebi has it down to a science!

Oh man, gotta try this! Sometimes my mom is here all day baking with me because we only put in one sheet at a time! Will try the indydebi rotating sheet trick next time we bake!

I use all my racks at a time...less enery and time to bake!!! I'd be here all day baking if I didn't!!

I think each person's ovens are different. When I had a normal conventional oven I could only do one rack at a time near the top of the top oven. I couldn't ever get the cookies in my bottom oven to turn out perfect. I'm super picky though. Now that I have a convection oven I do 2 sheets at a time and it bakes a lot faster too. Love it love it love it! When or if you're oven needs replacing...do consider convection!!!!!!!!

I have a Bosch true european convection oven.. I can put in THREE racks at a time! They are all evenly baked, none more so than the other. It is a life saver. Growing up, we would do the rotating thing like IndyDebi said.

You guys are killin me. I was drooling over a convection oven at HD the other day. Got that tax money comin and it's making me want to do things that I shouldn't do....like buy a convection oven when I should pay down credit cards!

Right now, I have in 2-8" rounds; 2-6" rounds and 1-6" square. I have never, ever (knock on wood) had a problem baking like this in my oven. (I have a regular oven in a licensed home-based bakery.) If I have anything larger than an 8" in the oven, I rotate 1/2 through the cycle, but again, I've never had a single problem with them not baking properly and beautifully.

Amy

I just have a reg oven and I always put 2 cookie sheets in at a time! Maybe I got lucky because the top and bottom rack both bake the same! I bake cakes on top and bottom to with no problems !

I put more than one in at a time. I just noticed one side cooks more than the other so I rotate them about half way through. I also lower my cooking temp a little. hope this helps.

i also cook two at a time rotating just like indydebi. I have a 30 year old electric oven and still works wonders.

I usually put 2 -3 sheets of cookies in at a time. I don't have any issues. If I notice the bottom rack cookies are getting too brown, I rotate, but that's usually not an issue. It kind of depends on the type of cookies.