One of the most important things to have on hand when embarking on a holiday baking project is parchment paper. Flour, sugar, butter and chocolate chips are fairly critical as well, but when you can't get your cookies off the baking sheet, it doesn't really matter what they taste like.
Parchment paper is a silicone coated paper that prevents things sticking to it and is oven safe up to 425F/220C. It is generally sold in rolls in the baking aisle of your grocery store, but can also be sold in individual sheets. One sheet can be used multiple times, with batch after batch of holiday cookies sliding right off it. Not only will you never have to use a spatula to pry cookies off a baking sheet, you will probably never have to wash a sheet again - just throw away the parchment paper when your cookies are finished. It is good for working with hot sugars and candies, which, like cookies, will not stick to the paper. Parchment paper is also an excellent way to line cake pans because, in addition to preventing the cake from sticking to the pan, no waxy residue from waxed paper or chemicals from plastic wrap will find their way onto your cake.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-12-2005 @ 1:24PM
Punisher2k said...
Silicon mats are your friends also.
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12-12-2005 @ 1:39PM
Harry said...
I've been using natural parchment paper (it's brown, and I don't know about whether it's treated with silicone) in baking challah. It lets me do the braiding and egg-washing, and then I slide the bread/parchment paper off of my rimless baking sheet onto my pizza stone. I am getting a much nicer crust, without the "under-doneness" I got when baking it while still on the cookie sheet.
And yeah, it is great for cookies, too.
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12-12-2005 @ 3:11PM
michelle said...
I just started using parchment paper for baking a couple of years ago and I can't believe how much I love it nor that I never used it before then.
Sing the praises of parchment!
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12-12-2005 @ 3:35PM
Huffy said...
Silicon mats are terrific, yes, but somewhat pricey. I baby my Silpat and buy parchment paper in bulk, from a restaurant supply warehouse; it comes pre-cut in 16 1/2" X 24 1/2" sheets, the perfect size for two cookie pans. 1000 sheets to a box. Enough to sustain me 'til the revolution!
Huffy
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12-12-2005 @ 5:26PM
M-L said...
Amen.
It's all they use in Finland. We used to import it before Reynold's started mass-marketing it. I don't think the old-school stuff was silicone treated though.
Had a fresh box of Reynolds this weekend and it didn't seem to work as well as my old box of Reynolds. Definitely performed better on the second time through the oven. Seemed like the first time it collected moisture out of the cookies and wrinkled up. Any other experience?
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12-12-2005 @ 10:34PM
tr said...
instead of the more expensive parchment, i've been using quilon coated baking sheet pan liners that are available at GFS (http://www.gfs.com/gfs_marketplace.html) and i'm sure other restaurant supply stores. the sheets are sized for large sheet pans 16 3/8" x 24 3/8", and i just cut to size. a pack of 50 sheets is around $3.
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12-13-2005 @ 11:06AM
rosie said...
My local restaurant supply store only had boxes of 500 16 1/2" X 24 1/2" sheets of parchment for about $50. My two baking pals and I spent an afternoon cutting them in half and dividing them among us. That was two years ago and we still have tons left!
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