Hey Besties! I’m so excited to share our latest cookie research study with you! If you’ve been here before, you know every now and then, the nerd in me comes out. I worked in research for many years in a previous life and LOVE a good study! And today we’re getting to the bottom of which surface works best for cutout cookie baking! There is a lot of conflicting advice out there, especially when trying to curb cookie spread. After all, if you’re making cutout cookies, you want them to retain their shapes. We’re putting parchment papers, silicone mats and perforated baking mats to the test! Get into full nerd-mode with me, this is going to be fun!
Cutout Cookie Recipes
You already know that there are thousands of cutout cookie recipes out there. You may even have one that you swear by and use for all of your cookies, and I love that for you! For a lot of bakers, it can take MANY recipes and trial and error to master the recipe they love most. And there’s no one recipe that is the best for everyone, given different palettes, textures and more. I encourage new bakers to try several recipes to see what they love most. It’s a great learning process in baking science as well!
And I will be the first to admit that many years ago, I dreaded making cutout cookies because they took FOREVER and never seemed to keep their shape. Well, thank goodness those days are long gone! While some cookiers still prefer to chill their cutout cookie dough, we never do. We’re able to quickly whip up delicious cutout cookies that retain their shape in under 30 minutes. This lady is not wasting any time chilling dough if I don’t have to, and I don’t!
For the purposes of our cookie research today, we’re using our vanilla cutout cookie recipe. We make thousands of these cookies every year, along with many other fun flavors you can find HERE. It’s a very simple, quick recipe to make that results in delicious, soft, chewy cookies. And today, we’re putting it to the test on different baking surfaces to determine the best!
A Word About Recipes
Alright, this feels like perfect time to address something that is rarely talked about. A recipe is SO much more than a list of ingredients. That may seem like common sense, but as someone who receives emails, messages and questions every single day from bakers, let me explain.
The instructions of a recipe are just as (if not more than) important as the list of ingredients in that recipe. Speaking for my recipe development process, recipes are tweaked and tested a ridiculous number of times before they are published. I don’t put any recipe out that I can’t stand behind. And every part of that recipe is important. You’re welcome to deviate from the recipe, but then you can’t be surprised when you don’t get the same results. Baking literally is science so deviations you make, even seemingly trivial, may give you very different results.
And that’s part of what our cookie research reflects today! A simple change in baking surface makes a big difference in your cutout cookie baking results!
Can We Talk About Cookie Spread?
Alright Bestie, I always give it to you straight and today’s no exception. There seems to be some misunderstandings about cutout cookie “spread”. Somewhere along the line cookiers started on a quest to achieve cutout cookies that come out of the oven the EXACT same size as when they went in. Bestie, if your cookies grow ever-so-slightly, that is not “spread”. Cookie spread is when they come out of the oven in blobs, undistinguishable shapes or significantly larger than when they went in. If you’re cookies are like 1/8″ larger, even 1/4″ larger, that is completely normal. If your cookies are delicious and their shapes are clear, you do not have a spreading issue. We’re not trying to make hockey pucks here; we want a delicious and beautiful cookie.
The Contenders
We put 4 contenders to the baking surface test:
- Reynolds parchment paper sheets
- Katbite parchment paper sheets
- Silicone baking mats
- Perforated baking mats
Most cookiers use one of these baking surfaces for their cutout cookie baking. And you may or may not know that all parchment papers are not the same. In fact, they can yield very different results and textures. So, we are taking this opportunity to compare the results of two different kinds.
And an important note! All four baking surfaces were tested using cookie dough from the same batch, to remove any other variables. Same dough, same baking times, same pans, the only difference is the baking surface.
Baking Surface Results
We’ll go in the same order as a listed above!
Reynolds Parchment Sheets
Readily available at grocery stores, these are super convenient to use.
Results: We saw about 1/4″ overall cookie growth in size and parchment sheets were dry upon removing the cookies. You could bake on these over and over again. Here, you can see the cookie in comparison to the cutter.
Katbite Parchment Paper Sheets
A popular parchment paper you can find HERE, at a great price point.
Results: Pretty significant growth using the Katbite parchment paper sheets. It was about 1/2″ growth in overall cookie size as you can see in the photo below. Cookie edges at the base started to fan out due to this growth as well.
Another observation is that the parchment paper was soaked with butter where the cookies were, upon removing them. This is interesting for a couple reasons. You definitely would not want to reuse these sheets; you’d need a new sheet for each batch. But more importantly, I don’t want to lose all that butter (flavor and moisture) from my cookies. While it resulted in a beautiful finish to the top of the cookie, the overall cookie texture was more dry.
Silicone Baking mats
These are regular silicone baking mats, specifically THESE. A very popular baking mat at an affordable price point.
Results: Less growth than the Katbite parchment paper, but more than the Reynolds. About 3/8″ growth in overall cookie size. Nice finish to the top of the cookie and still retained its moisture. Obvious environmental bonus to being able to reuse silicone mats without any waste. They can get greasy and of course, cleaning is required.
Perforated Baking mats
We used THESE perforated baking mats, which are highly-rated and very affordable as well.
Results: We experienced ZERO growth in the cookies using these mats! Perforated baking mats are known for their even baking, so this was to be more expected, but still impressive. Beautiful finish on the top of the cookie and was still a great texture. And of course, these mats offer a pretty pattern on the bottom of the cookies as well. Not all cookiers like this look, but many do.
Cutout Cookie Baking Surface Summary:
This was such fun (and yummy) cookie research! After all was said and done, here are the summarized results and recommendations.
Coming in first place, are the perforated baking mats! These were the only baking surface that produced cookies without any growth in size. Based on our results, they offer the best of all worlds from a cookie perspective. Cookies stayed the exact same size, had a beautiful top finish, retained their moisture in overall cookie texture and have the pretty bottom pattern as well. Oh, and there is an environmental benefit as well, but obviously do require cleaning. THESE are the ones we used and would recommend to fellow cutout cookie bakers!
Coming in second place, are the Reynolds parchment sheets. Very minimal overall cookie growth, cookies retained their moisture, sheets can be reused many times over and they are convenient to use without any clean-up. These are readily available at grocery stores or online HERE.
Coming in third place, would be the regular silicone baking mats. You won’t catch me using these for cutout cookies since the overall growth was a little more than I was happy with. They may work wonderful for other baking purposes but are not the best for cutout cookies.
Coming in last, are the Katbite parchment sheets. The overall cookie growth was far too significant, moving into more of the spreading category. Cookies were drier after losing so much butter and sheets were not able to be reused at all.
Pardon my research handwriting here, but wanted to share an overall view so you can see a comparison of the contenders.
My favorite Kind of Research
I hope this was helpful for you as you perfect your recipes and determine what works best for you in cutout cookie baking! Again, it can take some trial and error to nail down the exact recipe and baking surface that you love, but I hope this was insightful in your quest. And if this was helpful, I hope you’ve already subscribed to receive my weekly newsletter! Never miss out on a new recipe, technique, tutorial product recommendation and free printables! Happy Baking, Besties!
This is super helpful– I’ve been using parchment forever, it works well for me and my recipe. BUT if I was to switch to the perforated mats, do I need to wash them in between each use within a batch of cookies? So if I end up with 8 cookie sheets worth of cookies and have 4 sheets with mats, do I need to wash the mats before I bake with them a second time?
I don’t wash in between batches, but I do give them a quick wipe off with a paper towel if I see butter residue. Happy Baking!
Hi! I reuse my perforated baking mats for many batches and then give them the good clean once I’m done! No need to wash in between every batch.
Thanks for all your research. I have always used parchment but lately have noticed the moisture left on the paper after baking. I am going to give the perforated silicone mats a try.
Yes, give them a try! I hope you love them too and make a difference in your baking!