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If you’re new to the kitchen and wondering, “can you bake cookies on wax paper?” then you’ve come to the right place!
Many bakers see wax paper in their pantry and wonder if you can use it to bake cookies on, as it looks similar to parchment paper or baking paper.
Although it looks like parchment paper, you should not bake cookies on wax paper as it will melt, and may smoke or start a fire.
Don’t forget, for more cookie baking tips, check out our guide on baking the perfect cookies!
Why Is Wax Paper Bad for Baking Cookies?
Wax paper is food-safe and nonstick, so it’s easy to see why people might be tempted to try and use it to bake cookies on.
However, what it’s lacking is the heat resistance, meaning that if you introduce it to the high temperatures of an oven, the parts of the wax paper not covered by the cookie dough are prone to starting to smoke or catch fire at high enough temperatures.
This is a safety hazard, number one, and should never be attempted to keep everyone in the house safe.
Secondly, baking cookies on wax paper that’s burning or smoking is a seriously great way to ruin your cookies, and you can’t even use my tips on saving burned cookies because you’re not going to want to ingest the remnants of scorched wax paper.
Wax Paper vs Parchment Paper
Wax paper looks a lot like parchment paper, or baking paper, which is what is recommended to use when baking cookies.
Parchment paper is made from cotton fibers and coated in heat resistant and moisture resistant silicone (a very thin layer).
Wax paper on the other hand, is coated in food safe wax, and we all know what happens to wax when it comes into contact with heat!
Can I Use Wax Paper in the Microwave?
You can use wax paper in the microwave, as the heat won’t be high enough to cause problems.
It’s really the direct heat source, like that of an oven, that you have to avoid with wax paper.
What Else Can I Use Wax Paper for in Baking?
Wax paper is really useful in baking, just not in the cooking stage.
I use it under my dough when I’m rolling it out on the counter to help smooth it out and not stick, as well as placing it over the top of my dough if I’m dealing with sticky dough that I’m rolling out (that way your rolling pin doesn’t get coated with clumps of dough).
You can use it to create impromptu icing bags (just cut a square of it and roll it into a cone), and you can also use wax paper to store your cookies if you want to keep them separate so the frosting doesn’t stick together.
Sometimes, bakers may use wax paper at the base of their cake that they are baking in the oven.
The only reason this works is because it would be completely covered by the batter, thus not directly exposed to heat.
This is impossible to do with cookies, of course, because your cookies won’t cover the entire sheet and there will be gaps where the wax paper is exposed.
