For actually baking cookies, I like the thin flat old aluminum ones best too. They still make them. That's especially true for cookies that aren't supposed to get brown, but in general I don't like dark cookie sheets at all.

I like dark ones for certain things, and insulated ones for certain things, but mainly I like those all aluminum half sheet pans from Sam's or Costco.\

I have four of the pans momj47 posted above. Are you saying the sides don't affect the end result? I didn't know I could use for cookies. If the answer to that is yes, are the same size pans, but in ?steel better or worse? I have two of those that are quite heavy, not aluminum.

You asked about the jelly roll pans with sides versus without sides. I prefer the ones with sides because they are great for cookies but also great for so many other uses such as roasting vegetables (you can toss the vegetables in the pan with oil before cooking and the oil will stay in the pan), or baking frozen things whether baked goods or fries or anything, or making large amounts of stuffing (the low-profile pan can fit in same oven as turkey, just put it on a rack beneath turkey, it only needs a few inches of clearance), and so on.

I've had 2 of these Vollrath 5314 baking sheets about 8 years and they are still looking good. They bake cookies great. Be careful though not to put cold water onto a hot baking sheet or the baking sheet will warp. I.e., wait until they have cooled before rinsing or washing them. That goes for any baking sheet, not just Vollrath.

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Don;t worry about the sides, if it's the standard type. It's fine for cookies and a ton of other things. Aluminum heats better and more evenly than steel, I believe, and steel has the extra weight.

I like the jelly roll type aluminum pans. Multiple different uses. I do not like the insulated ones. Don't like steel ones. Don't like the dark ones.

I like this sheet best for cookies, but I do use the rimmed baking sheet (AKA jellyroll pan) for other things besides cookies, and I have Silpat for both rimmed baking sheets that I have. Baking sheets do not take up much room in storage, and so I have quite a few of them, stored in the cabinet above my refrigerator. I also have about four or five pizza screens/pans, but I use those exclusively for pizza, calzone, and bread.

When I make biscotti, I do use a rimmed sheet with Silpat instead of a rimless pan. You need to have both.

I've used the AirBake cookie sheets for years and love them.

Oh my....hate them. I have had pale cookies and pale bottomed breads....and once managed to get water between the layers. It did dry out...but. I do like them for certain cookies that are very sugary and prone to over browning though.

I also dislike the AirBake sheets, the cookies seem overbaked and hard before they get nicely browned. Ah well, to each their own.

I have 8 of those half sheet pans from Sam's Club, mine are PolarWare and are made in the USA, I like that too, as well as the price.

I use them for everything from roasting vegetables to baking cookies to making Texas Sheet Cake and jelly rolls to that "veggie pizza". And I scrub them well to keep them nice and shiny, so I can use them to take things to family dinners and potlucks.

Annie

I have all of the above, of the aluminum. I mostly use the jelly roll pans. I have trouble with cookies sliding off if I am not careful with just using the cooky sheets! I have one of them that is air bake but don't use it much at all. I vote for the jelly roll pans, many uses, under the pies and baking too. Oh I don't like them dark or all dirty looking from a bunch of years of baked on stuff, ha, ha.

Sue

Well, I used my jelly roll pans for cookies today and the result was perfect. I can't believe I didn't know they could be used for cookies! I love them for brownies, Texas sheet cake, pumpkin bars, etc. and they travel well. I don't like discolored pans and these are so easy to keep looking nice. I don't like the paleness of cookies on the insulated sheets, either.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Liz

I use the same kind as momj47. I have 4 and use them also for roasting vegetables and sometimes even make a double sheet cake in them.

I like the flat ones for cookies. The reason that I like the flat sheets for cookies is that, I use parchment paper and I just slide the entire sheet, cookies and all, off of the cookie sheet onto the cooling rack. It makes it so much faster. Then when I'm ready to put another batch of cookies onto the sheet, I will have them already put onto a new sheet of parchment paper and then slide that onto the sheet and put it in the oven.

Hint: you can still slide off the sheet of parchment paper from a jelly roll-style pan, just tilt it a little and slide over the rim.

Or flip the pan upside down. I don't bother, although I've tried it & it works well as a flat cookie sheet.

The air-bake sheets are good for some cookies, ones you do not want to brown on the bottom more than on the top. Delicate Christmas cookies like crescents, for example. I have an odd collection of cookie sheets and they all give different results with the same cookie. Some recipes I have marked: "Bake these on the air-bake" or "Do not use the air-bake!"

SIL swears by the insulated cookie sheets, but then she was also a big fan of her Pampered Chef pizza stone for cookies?? When I bake cookies (lots this time of year), I want an assembly line, so usually have 2 in oven at a time.

Have 3 of 4 "non-stick" rimmed baking sheets... I always just called them cookie sheets?? Scraped the heck out of the 4th so tossed. Replaced it with an aluminum one from a restaurant supply place... it's my favorite... very light in comparison to other 3.

I have become a BIG proponent of using parchment paper instead of a "non-stick" spray. That stuff just gunks up pan (eventually) and can't be removed from a non-tick surface without damage. Haven't made anything that doesn't slide right off parchment paper.

I have the Norpro aluminum jelly roll pans as well and use them extensively. Those are the ones referenced above at Costco.

However, for cookie sheets I've been pleased with the Williams Sonoma GoldTouch line. They are pricey, however. They are built by USA Pans (in the USA). You can instead buy the USA Pan version, which are similar, in a silver coating.; The lighter coating on both helps prevent the bottoms from getting overdone. However, they are nonstick which some people don't like.

I prefer not to use parchment for cookies. I wish I could formulate why other than with my flat, old aluminum sheets they come out perfectly, and on parchment less so. It's a texture thing, I think, which probably has to do with how the water escapes or doesn't. I think maybe I like my old aluminum sheets as much because I've always used them so have it down with the recipes for them to come out right, as much as how "correct" they may or may not be.

Plllog, parchment bakes cookies differently depending on whether it's brown or white parchment! It may be less the color than the different material. Something that baked perfectly on parchment one year did not like parchment at all the following year. I realized that the first time I'd used that brown parchment.