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?

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.

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. So why do most 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.

When we did find a nonstick, light-colored pan, we discovered a new issue with nonstick surfaces. 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.

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. Diamond-shaped grooves, designed to let hot air circulate beneath the food, did little but retard browning—unnecessary with light-colored sheets. Insulated pans had similar problems: The two-layer sheets, unsealed to allow air to fill the interior, slowed browning. We did find one candidate with a matte surface, rather than a shiny, slick surface. This baking sheet released the cookies effectively, even without parchment paper. The matte surface made it harder for the cookies to form a tight seal.

With the nonstick, texturized, and insulated sheets eliminated, we looked at design, first analyzing the edges. 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.

Next we tackled 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.

So what’s the cookie sheet of our dreams? Ideally, a heavy sheet with a light-colored matte finish and handles on the two short sides.

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