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Re: Please recommned a good brand of cookie sheets to me....
hi
cooks illustrated girl here...
here's their recent review of cookie sheets... I highly recommend subscribing to their site!
The Problems with Cookie Sheets—Updated
Written: 3/2007
Is it really too much to ask for one cookie sheet that browns evenly, refuses warping, resists sticking, and transfers to and from the oven with ease?
Update: March, 2007
In our testing of cookie sheets two years ago, we found that dark nonstick surfaces overbrowned cookies. We recommended a light-colored cookie sheet made by Vollrath ($24.95). For nonstick protection, we suggested lining this pan with parchment paper. But when we saw Williams-Sonoma's new light-colored nonstick Goldtouch pan ($26.95), we wondered if we could put our parchment away. To our surprise, batch after batch of lace cookies, butter cookies, and cream biscuits overbaked on the Goldtouch cookie sheet, even at the shortest recommended cooking time. And when we pulled the baked goods out early (before they looked too browned), they tasted dry. It turns out that a nonstick surface (whether light or dark) is highly water-repellent and speeds evaporation by driving moisture away, which can make cookies and biscuits too dry. We still recommend the light-colored Vollrath pan and a roll of parchment paper.
Original Article, May, 2005:
For such a simple-looking piece of equipment, the cookie sheet is rife with complex problems. Warping, sticking, overbrowning, underbrowning -- it's a miracle that edible, attractive cookies get made at all on these temperamental squares of metal.
Bakeware manufacturers have heard the call, trotting out redesign after snazzy redesign. But these "solutions" tend to offer little more than temporary displacement, solving one problem only to exacerbate another. Is it really too much to ask for one cookie sheet that browns evenly, refuses warping, resists sticking, and transfers to and from the oven with ease?
The ultimate pan had to be out there somewhere, we reasoned. But should we spend just a few dollars or fork over more than 10 times as much? We came up with 10 varied cookie sheets close in size to the test kitchen's favorite all-purpose baking sheet (technically, a four-sided "jellyroll" pan that measures 16 by 12 inches), which we added to our list for comparison. Then the baking marathon began.
Sticking Points
First, we had to tackle the respective merits of regular and nonstick sheets. In the past, we've been partial to regular surfaces for their tendency to brown more uniformly, lining the pans with parchment paper to compensate for the higher incidence of sticking. In the seven years since our last cookie-sheet testing, however, several new players have entered the bakeware arena. We were willing to give nonstick another go.
We baked 11 batches each of lemon cookies, walnut lace cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and spritz cookies, once with parchment paper, once without. During the unlined round, the cookies clung tenaciously to the uncoated surfaces (breaking into pieces when we pried them off), while the nonstick sheets released their contents effortlessly. No surprises there. But one uncoated sheet, the Chicago Metallic, released cookies almost as well as the nonstick models. The difference? This was the only traditional sheet with a matte rather than a shiny, slick surface, making it harder for the cookies to form a tight seal.
The cookies baked on the darker nonstick sheets browned more quickly than we wanted, but at least they were intact. When we repeated the tests using parchment paper, however, the traditional sheets came out on top, browning evenly and at a comfortable pace—and without any release issues. Even with parchment paper, the nonstick sheets overbrowned the cookies.
Why such a difference? In baking, cooking occurs primarily through convection: heat transferred indirectly to the food via air currents. Since food can't float in midair—it has to sit on bakeware -- additional heat is transferred directly from the pan. Dark-colored surfaces absorb more heat than light-colored surfaces (which reflect it), so more heat gets transferred to the food.
If only it were possible to make a cookie sheet with a light-colored nonstick coating. A call to the Cookware Manufacturers Association left us scratching our heads. "You can tint nonstick coatings any color you want," explained a CMA spokesperson. "At one point, there were even white nonstick coatings." So why do bakeware companies today insist on making dark coatings? It turns out the preference for dark coatings is a relic of 1960s marketing; that's when DuPont began tinting its Teflon-brand coating to differentiate it from the competition -- inferior-quality nonstick coatings made with clear silicone. The misconception that equates a dark finish with higher quality persists to this day.
Since overbrowning is unacceptable, we prefer a cookie sheet with a regular rather than a nonstick surface -- at least until the nonstick-coating industry lightens up. Besides, keeping parchment paper on hand is easy enough. Not all regular surfaces are created equal, however. We dismissed texturized surfaces fairly quickly. The Emerilware's diamond-shaped grooves, designed to let hot air circulate beneath the food, did little but retard browning -- unnecessary with light-colored sheets. The AirBake insulated pans had similar problems: The two-layer sheets, unsealed to allow air to fill the interior, slowed browning.
With the nonstick, texturized, and insulated sheets eliminated, only four cookie sheets remained in the game: Chicago Metallic, All-Clad, Kaiser, and the generic jellyroll pan.
Side Issues
Most cookie sheets have at least one perfectly flat side to allow batches of cookies to be whisked from sheet to cooling rack unhindered. After breaking one too many cookies in transit, we were convinced that a good cookie sheet can't have four raised sides. But what was the optimal number? Several models had just one raised side, which proved awkward when rotating them midway through baking, a necessary step for most recipes. (The side with the "handle" always ended up in an awkward position: either facing toward the back of the oven or on the left side, if the baker was right-handed.) For that reason, we recommend cookie sheets with two handles—positioned at the short sides.
Unfortunately, three of our four final contestants fell short in the handle department, either having four sides (the jellyroll pan) or just one side (the Kaiser and the All-Clad). That left us with just one contender, the Chicago Metallic, and that brings us to the subject of warping. The thinner and lighter the sheet, the greater the tendency to warp at higher temperatures. Beyond the disturbing sound of struggle emanating from the oven, warping is undesirable because of the tendency for delicate cookies to break or spread unevenly at the site of the temporary bend. The Chicago Metallic sheet was on the light side and evidenced warping when used at high oven temperatures. It's a good cookie sheet, but not a perfect one.
You've Got Mail (Order)
After weeks of testing, then, where were we? We hadn't found the cookie sheet of our dreams -- ideally, a heavy sheet with a light-colored matte finish and handles on the two short sides. We headed back to department stores, kitchenware shops, and bakeware Web sites in search of our elusive sheet, but to no avail. Then, during a visit to a restaurant supply store, we found the Holy Grail of cookie sheets. Made by Vollrath, the sheet boasted every one of our choosy preferences. After confirming that industry outsiders can order the sheet by mail (see "Where to Shop"), we brought it back to the test kitchen to see how it negotiated our battery of trials.
Sure enough, the Vollrath handled every task brilliantly. We repeated the tests with our reigning favorites -- our four flawed-but-solid sheets -- just to make sure the Vollrath was truly the top choice. But 16 more batches of cookies later, the conclusion was clear: no warping, two well-positioned handles, and minimal sticking, even unlined. For the Ultimate Cookie Sheet, then, our money's on the Vollrath.
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