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        The weather can be stormy outside, but we hope you enjoy your holiday cookies. The tools you use can make all the difference in making dough and shiny decorations bake evenly. We’ve spent 200 hours researching and testing 20 cookie-related essentials to find the best equipment to make holiday baking fun and stress-free.
        In writing this guide, we sought advice from renowned bakers such as Alice Medritch, author of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies and the latest flavor flours; Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of Rose’s Christmas Cookies and The Baking Bible. , among others; Matt Lewis, cookbook author and co-owner of the popular New York restaurant Baked; Gail Dosick, author of The Cookie Decorating Expert and former owner of One Tough Cookie in New York. Wirecutter Senior Editor Marguerite Preston, who wrote the first version of this guide, is a former professional baker, which means she spends a lot of time making cookies and more time decorating. During this time, she developed a keen sense of what is practical, what is necessary, and what does not work.
       These deep metal bowls are perfect for collecting drips from rotary mixers and everyday mixing.
        Mixing bowls are often one of the first things we take out of the cupboard at the start of a baking project. Even if you are using a stand mixer and the included bowl, you will usually need at least one additional dry ingredients bowl. A good set of bowls will also come in handy if you are mixing several different icing colors. We recommend simple, durable stainless steel or glass kits.
        The stainless steel bowl is lightweight and virtually indestructible. After testing seven sets of stainless steel mixing bowls for our best mixing bowls guide, we chose the stainless steel mixing bowl set with Cuisinart lid as the best. These bowls are durable, attractive, versatile, easy to hold with one hand, and the lids close tightly to store leftover food. Unlike some of the other bowls we’ve tested, they’re deep enough to pour water from a hand mixer into, and wide enough to easily stack ingredients together. Cuisinart bowls come in three sizes: 1½, 3 and 5 quarts. The medium size is great for mixing a batch of frosting, while the largest bowl is great for making a standard batch of cookies.
        One of the great things about glass bowls is that they are microwave safe, which is great for tasks like melting chocolate. However, glass bowls are heavier than metal ones, so they’re harder to lift with one hand, but you’ll probably appreciate the extra stability – they won’t slide easily across the table when you’re kneading thick cookie dough. Of course, glass isn’t as strong as steel, but the bowls in our favorite 8-piece Pyrex Smart Essentials Mixing Bowl Set are made from tempered glass and won’t break easily. Pyrex bowls come in four useful sizes (1, 1½, 2½ and 4 quarts) and come with lids so you can store a batch of cookie dough in the freezer or keep frosting from drying out.
        The inexpensive Escali scale is best suited for most home cooks who need consistent baking and cooking results. It’s impressively accurate, has fast weight readings in 1-gram increments, and has an automatic shut-off for a long time of about four minutes.
        Most professional bakers rely heavily on kitchen scales. The fine alchemy of baking relies on precision, and cups measured by volume alone can be wildly inaccurate. As Elton Brown (video) explains, 1 cup of flour is equivalent to 4-6 ounces, depending on who measures it and factors such as relative humidity. The scale allows you to distinguish between light butter cookies and thick flour cookies, and you can put all the ingredients directly into the bowl to wash less dishes.
        After nearly 45 hours of research and three years of testing and polling experts for our best kitchen scale guide, we believe the Escali Primo digital scale is the best scale for most people. Escali scales are very accurate and can quickly read weight in 1 gram increments. It’s also affordable, easy to use and store, and has a long battery life. This balance has the longest auto-off feature we’ve tested, so you can take measurements at your leisure. This 11 lb capacity kitchen scale is perfect for all your basic home baking and cooking needs. Plus, it comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
        For larger batches, we recommend the My Weigh KD8000. It’s bulky and only weighs a gram, but with a capacity of 17.56 pounds, it can easily fit a large amount of baked goods.
       This set of durable, accurate cups isn’t unique – you can find several equally good clones on Amazon – but it’s better value for money, offering seven cups instead of six.
        This classic design is one of the most durable glasses we have found. Its fade-resistant markings are clearer than other glasses we’ve tested and are easier to clean than plastic cups.
        Until American cookbook authors move away from imprecise cup conventions, most home bakers will regret not having measuring cups in their tool kit. It’s worth having a set of metal dry glasses and a glass measuring cup for liquids: flour and other dry ingredients tend to build up, so flat-sided glasses are best for scooping up and leveling liquids that level out on their own, so follow a set measuring line. Transparent containers work best.
        In our guide to the best measuring cups, we strongly recommend the Simply Gourmet 7-piece stainless steel measuring cup set for dry ingredients and the Pyrex Prepware 2-cup glass measuring cup for liquids. Both measuring cups are more durable than the others, easier to clean and the most compact measuring cups we’ve tried. And they are pretty accurate (as far as the cup is concerned).
        Please note that Simply Gourmet measuring cups are clones or white label products, made by only one manufacturer, and sold under different brand names in different stores. There are no “original brands” but we chose Simply Gourmet mugs when we published the guide because this set offers the best value for money by offering seven mugs (the seventh is a small but useful ⅛ cup) instead of the usual six. If the Simply Gourmet set is out of stock, you can buy the same seven-cup set from KitchenMade or a similar six-cup set from Hudson Essentials or Lee Valley.
        These filters are not as durable as the All-Clad models but are much cheaper. This is a great set for the casual baker.
        A simple fine-mesh sieve is a great all-around tool to have on hand when baking. You can use it to sift flour (to aerate the flour so the result isn’t too thick, especially if you’re using a measuring cup instead of a scale), remove clumps from cocoa, or blend multiple ingredients at once. Small sieves can also come in handy when decorating if you want to dust your cookies with powdered sugar or cocoa powder (with or without a stencil).
        We haven’t tested the filters, but we’ve received great suggestions from other sources. Many of our experts recommend choosing sets that include a variety of sizes.
        Matt Lewis, co-owner of Baked, loves the All-Clad’s durable stainless steel three-piece set; he tells us that his set has “stood the test of time” even in the kitchen of his high-volume bakery. But the All-Clad set is currently selling for $100 and is a real investment. If you’re not going to run your filter through the wringer, you might want to consider Cuisinart’s affordable 3-piece strainer set. The mesh isn’t as thin as the All-Clad set and some reviews indicate that the baskets can bend or warp, but the Cuisinart filters are dishwasher safe and for most reviewers they work well with regular use. If you plan on using the filter occasionally or just for baking, the Cuisinart set is only $13 (at the time of writing) and should suit your needs.
        One thing that several experts advised us to avoid at all costs: an old-fashioned crank-driven flour sifter. Such tools do not hold as much capacity as larger filters, cannot filter anything but dry ingredients such as flour, and are difficult to clean as moving parts get stuck easily. As Lewis says, “They’re dirty, they’re stupid, and you don’t need that kind of equipment in your kitchen.”
       This 5 liter stand mixer can handle just about any recipe without knocking on the counter, and is one of the quietest models in the KitchenAid line.
        A good stand mixer will make your baking (and cooking) a lot easier. The KitchenAid Artisan is the best mixer for home bakers looking for a hardware upgrade. We’ve been covering mixers since 2013, and after using them to make cookies, cakes, and bread in our guide to the best stand mixers, we can definitely say that the brand that introduced the first stand mixer in 1919 is still the best. OK We’ve been using KitchenAid Artisan mixers in our test kitchen for years, proving that sometimes you really can’t beat a classic. Artisan isn’t cheap, but since refurbished units are often available, it can be affordable. The performance and versatility of the KitchenAid Artisan is unmatched for the price.
       With nine powerful speeds, Breville can knead thick dough and lighter dough stably, and it has more attachments and functions than competitors.
        However, a stand mixer weighs quite a bit and takes up a lot of space on your countertop, and a quality machine can cost hundreds of dollars. If you only need a mixer for making a few batches of cookies a year, or for whipping egg whites for royal icing, then a hand mixer is the way to go. After over 20 hours of research and testing, we recommend the Breville blender manual. It can whip stiff cookie dough, whip soft batters and soft meringues quickly, and it’s equipped with more useful attachments and features not found in less expensive mixers.
        The OXO whisk has a comfortable handle and plenty of flexible (but not flimsy) wire loops. He can handle almost any task.
        Whisks come in all shapes and sizes: large fluffy whisks for whipping cream, thin whisks for making custard, tiny whisks for frothing milk into coffee. However, when making cookies, you will only be using this tool to whip dry ingredients or make frosting, so a medium-sized narrow whisk will do. All the blender experts we spoke to stressed that tornado-shaped blenders or ones with metal balls rattling inside wires work no better than simple, sturdy, teardrop-shaped models.
        After testing nine blenders for our best blender guide, we decided the OXO Good Grips 11″ can blender was the best for a variety of tasks. In our tests, it whipped cream and egg whites faster than most other whisks we tried, reached the corners of the pan with ease, and offered the most comfortable handle. Our only complaint is that the TPE-coated rubberized handle isn’t exactly heat-resistant: if you leave it on the edge of a hot pan for too long, it will melt. But this shouldn’t be a problem for creating cookies (or many other churning tasks), so we don’t think it’s a deal breaker.
        If you want a whisk with a heat-resistant handle, we also like Winco’s simple 12″ Stainless Steel Piano Wire Whisk. It costs a little less than the OXO but is still durable and well made. In our tests, Winco whipped cream quickly and easily in small pans. The smooth stainless steel handle is not as comfortable as the OXO but still very handy, especially for simple tasks like stirring dry ingredients.
       This spatula is small enough to fit in a jar of peanut butter, yet strong enough to press down on the batter and flexible enough to scrape the edge of the batter bowl.
        When baking cookies, you need a high-quality, durable silicone spatula. It should be hard and thick enough to compress the dough, but pliable enough to be easily scraped off the sides of the bowl. Silicone is the material of choice to replace old fashioned rubber as it is food safe, heat resistant and non-stick so you can use a spatula to melt butter or chocolate as well as stir and the sticky dough will slip right off (alternatively you can use spatula) spatula in the dishwasher).
        In our guide to the best spatulas, we found the GIR Ultimate Spatula to be the best in the silicone range. It’s made from a single piece of silicone so it’s dishwasher safe, easy to clean, and available in every color of the rainbow. The small head is thin enough to fit in a peanut butter jar, yet convenient and quick to use in a curved pot. It also has parallel edges to clean the straight sides of a pot or wok. While the tip is thick enough to give the spatula enough weight to push down on the dough, it’s also flexible enough to glide smoothly and cleanly over the edge of the dough bowl.
        This tapered rod rolls out dough more efficiently than a rod with a handle, is great for rolling cakes and cookies, and is still one of the easiest rods to clean. Plus, it’s beautiful and durable enough to last a lifetime.
        You can’t make cutout cookies without a rolling pin. If you already have a rolling pin that you like, don’t worry about the best rolling pin: the best rolling pin is the one you’re comfortable with. However, if you’re having problems with dough sticking or cracking, hard-to-handle pins (or homemade pins like wine bottles), or pins with handles that spin in place instead of rolling smoothly on a flat surface, then this might be time to update. surface.
        In our tests of our guide to the best rolling pins, the Timeless Maple Oilstone Wood French rolling pin proved to be a great tool and a great value. Its long conical shape swivels easily, making it ideal for rolling out perfectly round pie crusts and oval biscuits. The solid maple wood surface of this rolling pin has a smoother surface than a conventional mass-produced rolling pin, which prevents dough from sticking and makes the rolling pin easier to clean. While whetstone dowels are inexpensive compared to other similar hand-turned models, if you bake something less expensive from time to time (or if the whetstone sells out), consider the JK Adams 19-inch Wood Roller Pin. Our 10 year old testers also found this pin to be easy to use. However, due to the lack of a tapered end, JK Adams pins are not as flexible as whetstone pins, so they are a bit awkward when rolling round shapes. And since the surface of the pins is not as smooth as the surface of our picks, it took a lot more flour and more effort to clean in our tests.
       This bench scraper has a comfortable, grippy handle, dimensions are engraved on the blade and will not fade over time.
        Every professional kitchen has a bench scraper. They’re great for everything from trimming rolled out dough, to picking up chopped nuts, grinding butter into flour for a pie crust, or even cleaning a surface. A table scraper comes in handy for all of the above tasks when you’re baking cookies, and it’s great for picking up chopped cookies and transferring them to a baking sheet.
        For most applications, we recommend the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Multipurpose Spatula and Grinder due to its comfortable handle and useful dimensions engraved on the blade. (The print size of the competing Norpro Grip-EZ grinder/scraper is more prone to discoloration.) Cook’s Illustrated recommends the Dexter-Russell Sani-Safe dough scraper because it’s sharper than most models, and the table scraper has flatter handles that are easier to wedge under rolled dough. However, there is no inch marking on the Dexter-Russell. At the time of writing, the OXO is a few dollars cheaper than the Dexter-Russell, and the scraper, while useful, is not a tool worth spending a lot of money on.
       These knives have the strongest construction and cleanest shapes of any knife we ​​have tested.
       For baking with kids, the simpler the better, and these plastic knives are safer and easier to handle.
        Especially if you’re buying your first cookie cutter, we’ve found it’s easier (and more cost-effective) to buy a set than to choose from a dizzying array of individual cookie cutters. For holiday baking, we love Ateco’s range of stainless steel cookie cutters, whether it’s the Ateco stainless steel Christmas cookie cutter or the Ateco stainless steel 5 snowflake cookie cutter set. The shape is crisp and elegant, and of all the Ateco knives we’ve tested, it has the strongest construction and cuts the cleanest cookies.
        The Ateco cookie cutter is made from the heaviest metal we’ve tested and the difference is immediately apparent. Many other metal cookie cutters, such as the cookie cutters in the R&M Holiday Season Classics 12-Piece Cookie Cutter Tray, are made from tin or tin-plated steel, which can warp easily. Ateco knives, while not impossible to bend, were thicker and more resilient in our tests because they require a lot of force, even a little, to bend them. Each Ateco knife also has more welds than other metal knives, making the Ateco structure less likely to break. Tin-coated knives are also more prone to rust, but after repeated use, our Ateco knives will still sparkle.
        The Ateco Christmas cutter is the smallest we’ve tried, averaging 2.5 inches end to end instead of 3.5 or 4 inches, but that shouldn’t be a problem unless you like to create the same size cookies . . hand. If so, choose the Snowflake set or the Ateco 10-piece stainless steel knife set; these sets come in blade sizes ranging from 1.5″ to 5″ or 7.5″ respectively.
        For baking with kids, we recommend the 101-piece Wilton cookie cutter set. It’s a great deal, and the variety – from letters to animals and a few holiday images – means it can handle just about any cookie cutter project your kids want to make. They are plastic so they are not as sharp as metal knives to push through cold or frozen dough. But they have a wide upper lip, which makes them more comfortable when pressed hard (our young tester slapped them hard a few times, which may have been too much, but it was fun for her).
        If you’re limited on space, or if 101 cookie cutters feel like overkill, we also love the Wilton Holiday Grippy cookie cutters. This set of four plastic knives feels solid, and we love the silicone handles that make them more comfortable to use. These holiday shapes are almost identical to some of the 101-piece figures and are great for kids, but they aren’t as varied as our top picks. In addition to this Christmas-themed set, Wilton also offers a “casual” set (set of four) in a Comfort Grip model.
        This biscuit spoon is the most durable and comfortable to use. It came out cleaner than any other product in our tests.
        If you’re used to handing out dripping cookies like chocolate chips or oatmeal by hand, a cookie scoop can be a game-changer. A good spoon simply squeezes the handle to scoop out the contents, making smooth, perfectly round cookie dough (or muffin or muffin dough) in one go.
        Biscuit spoons can vary in design and quality. We prefer V-grip handles to thumb-only handles because the V-grip is suitable for both right and left-handers and is easier to grip. It’s important to invest in a good, sturdy spoon or you’ll quickly run into more frustration and a mess than you would with hand-sculpting cookies. Of the five spoons we tested, the stainless steel Norpro Grip-EZ 2 Tablespoon was the easiest to grip and comfortable to hold, producing both stiff dough right out of the freezer and sticky dough at room temperature. Cleaner than any other spoon.
        The OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop is also very high quality and has great reviews on Amazon. The grip is smooth and easy, the handle is comfortable, the tool is durable and reliable. The release of the Norpro model was a bit cleaner as we scooped up the soft and sticky dough. OXO is priced almost the same as Norpro, making it a good alternative if you don’t have Norpro. Both brands of scoops also come in different sizes, so you can make as big or small cookies as you want.
       This affordable baking dish bakes tender, satisfying cookies just as efficiently as twice the price, and is less likely to warp in the heat than cheaper models.