I have not had a good experience with the cookie sheets that trap air in the middle layer. They do not brown or crisp what you are baking, and can leave cookies flaccid and pale (ew). I recommend the Kaiser baking sheet for cookies (link below). As to baking stones, try doing a search on the Gardenweb forum (search link at top of page) for pizza stone or baking stone, and you will come up with quite a lot of posts about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kaiser Baking Sheet

The thicker sheets that hold the air....I agree with the poster above. Not good. I buy the Echo ones in Walmart or the grocery. I've gotten more expensive ones and don't see a difference. BTW, putting them in the dishwasher is a no no. I find they last much longer hand washed.

well i have a couple of All-clad cookie sheets, the gold one, they seem to do a good job, you have to clean with barkeepers friend, to really get clean, I made some cookies last night, they really turned out well, while i was cleaning the sheet i was using my brush that is designed for non stick to clean with, well i scratched the gold surface right down to the stainless steel, this surprised me since All-clad swears up and down this shouldnt happen. well if you check these baking sheets out at least you have some info to work with. JerryMB

Sally....Go to your local friendly restaurant supply store or online at fantes.com and find a plain old heavy-duty aluminum jelly roll or sheet pan. Then find a silicon baking sheet such as Silpat in a matching size and hit to right, as they say. If you mind the use and care instructions for the Silpat you will have a versatile long-lasting virtually indestructable cookie-and-other-stuff system that you only have to buy once and never again. Get two of them while you are at it!

Cal

I use the air-bake sheets (and parchment) for cookies and breads. No problem with browning or getting a nice crust on either.

Regarding the "air" type cookie sheets... normally I don't buy into this sort of gimmicky-sounding thing. But. It's likely more of an oven temp issue (my oven is horrendous) but right down to the simplest of Toll House Cookies, I have the hardest time turning out cookies that are both done on top and not burnt on the bottom. That is, until my wife bought some Calphalon air-bake type sheets at Marshalls. Much better now, as long as I rotate the pans plenty so I don't get that dreaded undone-overdone line running right down the middle of some of the cookies!

In short they are helpful to me but my mother doesn't have to use them so neither should I. Time for a new oven.

I used to have a mix of old cheapie baking pans, including "non-stick" (peeling off) aluminum and some darker (?Baker's Secret - I forget). I frequently burned cookies, or they would otherwise not turn out well (that was over 10-15 years ago; can't remember all details).

Then treated myself to some of the Airbake cookie sheets (one came in a package with a perforated pizza pan which I like) and eventually also a couple heavy aluminum ones with sides. I love both of these types and although I am also more faithful remembering to use a timer, I think cookies have turned out much better.... the whole process seems much more enjoyable. Have often baked many many dozens of cookies at Christmas time, and loved having the nice big sheets that I could set up more than one at a time (at least 3, but nice to get ahead by a couple more when trying to get other things done at the same time too).

If I (hand) wash them right away after being done with the lot - and scrape in between if needed - they're not too bad to wash, although need to be a bit careful not to get too much water in the airbake ones. I don't recall problems with inadequate browning/crusting, but prefer many cookies to be chewier rather than dry/crispier.

I recently bought a "try me" half sized Chicago Metallic heavy duty pan for ~$10Cdn; the big ones are kinda pricey but apparently popular for commercial use. Label says dishwasher-safe which is great for the small size that fits. Curled under edges look like gunk or water could possibly get in, but hopefully not a big problem.

I don't use parchment paper or Silpat (I think I saw that for close to $30Cdn for one sheet!?!); but might try the parchment after reading on the forum(s) how people save time by sliding the whole paper on to the cooling rack, etc.

I love parchment paper. I use it for just about everything that goes in the oven. Slides right of to cool. As far as it goes for baking sheets I am still using my Wearever's Air Bake and they work fine.

Ditto on the parchment paper. While the first batch is cooking I'm putting the next batch on clean paper. When the first batch is done I just slide off the baked cookies, paper and all and slide the next batch on and pop it in the oven. Clean up is a snap of course.

Cheap half sheet jelly roll pans from the restaurant supply store work just fine.

I'll second (or is that third or fourth) the thoughts on the plain old aluminum sheets from your resturant supply shop. If you have a GFS locally, you can find half sheets for about $6 USD. The jelly roll pans are about $8-9 which didn't make sence to me as they're 1/2 the size of the half sheets. I opted to pass on those until I can find a better price.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gordon Food Service

I have used air bakes and since I like a light crust on my cookies, I was never able to get cookies right with these. My wife had better luck but she likes cookies slightly underdone IMO. :)

I recently got a non-stick, light colored not dark, Cuisinart baking pan and love it. The cookies come out perfect, fully cooked yet with a slight crust on the bottom. The light color does not overcook the bottom while the tops complete cooking. The cookies also release very easily.

The pan is heavy gauge like commericial baking pans. While my air bakes never warped, other thin sheets I have used do.

I got this pan from TJ Maxx for less than $10. I am going to get some more (at regular prices at Amazon for ~17) since I am so happy with it.

I used to use the AirBake sheets but I didn't like the fact that you can't immerse them in water or the water will seep into the air chambers, dishwasher is definitely out. When I discovered parchment paper I didn't need it anyway. The paper keeps the cookies from over browning. I don't like Echo, their pans are cheap and they warp. Chicago Metallic is pretty good. Don't buy a dark pan even if it's non-stick (as in Calphalon).

There is a difference between a cookie sheet and a jelly roll pan. If you want to get anal about it, you shouldn't bake cookies in a jelly roll pan. That's why they call it a COOKIE S H E E T, because cookies cook best on a sheet not in a frying pan, roaster, or stock pot! Cookies need full exposure to oven heat and a jelly roll pan's high sides prevent that.

Love parchment paper.

Great cheap sheets/pans at local restaurant supply stores ($8 for a full). Prefer small sheets over full sheets as it's easier to handle small pans from cupboard to oven, sink, wherever, & back again.

Another great thing about a proper cookie "sheet" (vs jelly roll pan) is how easy it is to slide the parchment right out... And I thought I was the only one to cheat like this!! I'm all about making it easy.