Equipment, Cookie Sheets
So far, I’ve covered temperature as it relates to ingredient and oven. Equipment is more helpful than super critical. Within reason just about any cookie sheet will do but a better quality one does make it easier and helps with consistent quality. And as I would find out more is also better.
Cookie Sheets
After I got married way back yonder and moved into our first house I started baking more frequently. I had a mishmash of cookie sheets and quickly found out that each type of cookie sheet required some adjustment even if minor in baking time. So mixing cookie sheets when baking a batch of cookies made things a little inconvenient.
Before buying a bunch of the same type of cookie sheets I bought one of few different types. I tried the air cookie sheets that had a hollow space in-between two layers of metal. Goal was to bake without browning the bottom of the cookies. For most cookies slight browning of the bottom is important for me. It gives a slight caramelized flavoring by browning some of the sugar.
Many of the other sheets were relatively thin metal and were easily warped or bent. Macy’s has a line of cookware called “Tools of the trade”. In the late 80’s or early 90’s they carried a heavy gauge non-stick cookie sheet that was turned up on one end.
I also liked that three of the sides were flat. I don’t like trays that have turned up edges on all four sides. Cookies are pretty fragile when first out of the oven and being able to slide them off a tray without an edge makes things easier and reduces broken/bent cookies
So, I bought two to try them out.
These were prefect, no warping and no bending. They heated evenly and the turned-up edge was easy to use to pick up. I also like that the sheet wasn’t too wide or long so the heat flowed around the sheet when in the oven. Several of the trays I tried were too wide and/or long leaving little room for air to flow around evenly all edges. The tray from Macy’s was big enough to hold 12 of most cookies I bake.
When making a batch of cookies I had to reuse the sheets since I only had two. I quickly realized that the trays needed to cool to room temperature otherwise the dough would start melting before the tray made it into the oven. So, I bought two more, this gave me time for the trays to cool.
These trays served me well and I still have them, but when I moved into a house with double ovens four trays wasn’t enough to keep the process going smoothly. So, I went back to Macy’s to buy more but with the passage of time they no longer carried the heavy gauge trays. So, my search for more trays began.
What I needed was a heavy gauge sheet that wasn’t too wide or long. Also wanted a non-stick surface and no turned up edges on at least the long sides. I found some that were heavier gauge but they were either too wide/long, didn’t have a non-stick coating or had an awkward turned up edge.
Not sure how I found them but stumbled on Lloyd Pans. Their focus is primarily on commercial users but do sell to the public. They also have a line of consumer-focused products now too. When I cover my cheesecake adventures, I’ll talk about their cheesecake pans.
At the time I bought them they showed the trays on their website along with the price but now best I can tell it is only listed in their catalog and you will need to inquire about the price. On page 12 “Heavy Baking Sheets” are the ones I use. They are 8 gauge, 12 inches wide which is perfect for my oven. Depending on your oven the 14-inch wide might work for you.
Here is a link to their catalog
I got the Dura-Kote® finish which is a proprietary non-stick surface that you can use metal utensils with and for most baking situations doesn’t need greasing. These are not cheap I paid around $45 each but these will last forever. I ended up getting 8 of them which works out really nicely when making large batches of cookies. Since they are heavy gauge it takes some time for them to cool. I have granite counter tops so after removing the cookies I stack the trays on the granite counter top. Since they don’t warp, they make good even contact with the granite and cool down pretty quickly. When making large batches I can cycle through all 8 without needing to wait for a tray to cool.
Notes
- These are not dishwasher safe, but they clean up really easy in the sink using regular dish soap such as Dawn. Rinse them well.
- Use of cooking sprays is not recommended
- There will be what they call “beauty” marks from the manufacturing process that don’t affect their performance.
- Order them well a head of when you want/need them, they do not keep these in stock and will make as needed.
One trick I do even with a cool tray is to put a cold pack under the tray that has cookie dough on it while they are waiting to go into the oven. I put the cold pack in the refrigerator as I don’t want to freeze the dough just keep it cool. Likely you have a few left over from a sport’s injury. If you don’t have any this one is a good size, but pretty much any cold pack will work.
As always appreciate any comments or suggestions on new ways of doing things.
