I bake cookies a lot with convection. I use aluminum sheet pans lined with parchment. I don’t think the thing about letting them cool down is an issue, at least for aluminum. They cool down and heat up really quickly.

When you use the oven thermometer, remember that your oven is going to swing some amount before it kicks the heating element back on. My cheap gas oven will go down like 50 degrees before it kicks back on, so sometimes I preheat it to overshoot what I’m going for so it won’t swing down so far so fast when I open the door.

That said, if we’re talking about chocolate chip cookies or something like that, they should be pretty forgiving. If OP is having this many problems, I have to believe the oven is malfunctioning and is way off on the temperature and it’s not about sheet pans or convection or anything like that. You shouldn’t be burning cookies that are raw inside unless you’re up above 400 I wouldn’t think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convection is not a good idea for cookies.

Your oven might need calibrated. Read the manual.

You mean it might need to be calibrated.

Sorry, my dialect of American English allows for the omission of the helper infinitive.

Western PA?

Appalachia of Scotch-Irish descent. Pittsburgh sounds accent neutral to me. Everyone else sounds "funny."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convection is not a good idea for cookies.

Your oven might need calibrated. Read the manual.

You mean it might need to be calibrated.

Sorry, my dialect of American English allows for the omission of the helper infinitive.

Western PA?

Definitely ditch the nonstick pans.

Get Nordicware naturals.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks for all the replies- the oven came with our new home- I never would have picked out such an expensive one. It's the kind with the red knobs- I don't see anything about how it would ask you how many racks you are using- maybe that's with a digital model?
My friends who are both bakers also said to NOT use nonstick pans so I will be ordering some new sheet pans to try.
I will also buy a thermometer to put in the oven.
Hopefully I will figure it out soon!

OP, I'm a serious baker. Nonstick pans, if they are the dark ones, you need to adjust your oven down by 25 degrees. Never bake cookies, cakes, etc. on convection. I know some may say that commercial ovens in bakeries may be convection, but you don't have a commercial bakery oven. I prefer the gold pans and always line with parchment. Get an oven thermometer, you may be running hot, and an oven thermometer will help you understand how off it may be. I suspect that it's a combo of using dark nonstick pans without parchment and convection setting. Also, bake on a centered rack, not too close to bottom or top. Do not put cookies in a cold oven as suggested earlier, the oven initially heats quickly to get up to temp and cookies will not bake properly.