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        It may be rainy 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 took the advice of renowned bakers such as Alice Medritch, author of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies and most recently Flavor Flours; Rose Levy Beranbaum, Rose’s Christmas Cookies and The Baking Bible, among others; Matt Lewis, cookbook author and co-owner of the popular NYC Baked; Gail Dosick, cookie decorating expert and former owner of New York restaurant One Tough Cookie. Wirecutter Senior Editor Marguerite Preston wrote the first version of this guide, and she’s a former professional baker, which means she spends a lot of time scooping out cookies and even more time decorating decorations. 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 dripping from rotary mixers and everyday mixing.
        The mixing bowl is 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 sets.
        The stainless steel bowl is lightweight and virtually indestructible. After testing seven stainless steel mixing bowl sets as the best mixing bowl guide, we selected the stainless steel mixing bowl set with Cuisinart lid as the best combination. Sturdy, attractive and versatile, these bowls are easy to hold with one hand and feature tight-fitting lids to store leftovers. Unlike some of the other bowls we’ve tested, these are deep enough to hold the splashes of a hand mixer and wide enough for ingredients to stack together easily. 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 benefits of 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 might like the extra stability—they won’t sit on the table easily 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 quart, 1½ quarts, 2½ quarts, and 4 quarts) and come with lids so you can keep a batch of cookie dough in the freezer or keep the frosting from drying out.
        The inexpensive Escali scale is best suited for most home cooks who need consistent baking and cooking results. Impressively accurate, it quickly reads weight in 1-gram increments and has a long auto-off of about four minutes.
        Most professional bakers prefer a kitchen scale. The fine alchemy of baking depends on accuracy, and measuring cups alone can be wildly inaccurate. As Alton Brown (video) explains, 1 cup of flour can equal anywhere from 4 to 6 ounces, depending on who is measuring the flour and factors such as relative humidity. A scale can tell the difference between light butter cookies and thick flour cookies, plus you can weigh all the ingredients right in the bowl so you have fewer dishes to wash.
        After nearly 45 hours of research and three years of testing, plus interviews with experts to provide us with a guide to the best kitchen scales, we believe the Escali Primo digital scale is the best scale for most people. Escali scales are very accurate and provide fast weight readings 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 ideal 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 measures in whole grams, but it can easily hold 17.56 pounds for high volume baking.
       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 the inaccurate measuring cup convention, most home bakers will want to have measuring cups in their toolbox. It makes sense to have a set of metal cups for dry foods and a glass measuring cup for liquids: flour and other dry ingredients build up, so flat-sided cups are best for scooping and leveling, while liquids level on their own, so measure clearly. established line. Containers work best.
        In our guide to the best measuring cups, we confidently recommend the Simply Gourmet 7 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 a clone or private label product – they are made by only one manufacturer and are sold under different brands in different stores. No “Original Brand”, but we chose the Simply Gourmet mugs when we published the guide as this set was the best value for money, 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 keep handy while baking. You can use it to sift flour (it aerates it to avoid overly dense results, especially if you’re using a measuring cup instead of a scale), removing lumps from cocoa powder, or blending several 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 different sizes.
        Matt Lewis, co-owner of Baked, loves the All-Clad’s durable stainless steel three-piece set; he tells us that his set “stands the test of time” even in the kitchen of his high-volume bakery. But now a $100 All-Clad set is a real investment. If you’re not going to run the 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 say the basket can bend or warp, but Cuisinart filters are dishwasher safe and for most reviewers they work well with normal use. If you plan on using the filter occasionally or just for baking, the Cuisinart set is only $13 (at the time of this writing) and should suit your needs.
        Several experts advised us to avoid one thing: an old-fashioned flour sieve. Such an instrument is not as big as a large sieve, cannot filter anything but dry ingredients such as flour, is difficult to clean, and has moving parts that stick together easily. As Lewis says, “They’re dirty, they’re stupid, and you really don’t need it in your kitchen.”
       This 5 liter stand mixer can handle almost 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) easier. The KitchenAid Artisan is the best mixer for home bakers looking for a hardware upgrade. We started covering mixers in 2013, and after using them to make cookies, cakes, and bread as our guide to the best stand mixers, we can safely say that the brand that introduced the first stand mixer in 1919, is still the best. We’ve used the KitchenAid Artisan mixer in our test kitchen for years, proving that sometimes you really can’t beat a classic. The Artisan isn’t cheap, but because it can often be repaired, it’s an affordable machine. For the money, the KitchenAid Artisan is unmatched in performance and versatility.
       With nine powerful speeds, Breville consistently kneads thick and light doughs and has more attachments and features than the competition.
        However, stand mixers are heavy, take up a lot of countertop space, and can cost hundreds of dollars for a high-quality machine. If you only need to make a few batches of cookies a year, or whip egg whites for royal icing, you’ll need a mixer, and you can probably use a hand mixer. After spending over 20 hours researching and testing our guide to the best hand mixers, we recommend the Breville Handy Mix Scraper. It whips up tough cookie dough and soft batters and fluffy meringue quickly, and it has more practical 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, you won’t be using such a tool for whipping dry ingredients or making frosting to make cookies, so a medium-sized narrow whisk will do just fine. All the whisk experts we spoke to stressed that those that are tornado-shaped or filled with metal balls that rattle inside the wires do no better than simple, sturdy teardrop-shaped models.
        After testing nine blenders for our best blender guide, we believe the OXO Good Grips 11″ can blender is the best choice for a variety of applications. 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 had the most comfortable handle. Our only complaint is that the thermoplastic elastomer coated rubber handle isn’t completely 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 whipping 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 egg beater. It costs a little less than the OXO but is still reliable and well made. In our tests, the Winco whipped cream quickly and maneuvered around a small saucepan with ease. The smooth stainless steel handle isn’t as comfortable as the OXO’s, but it’s still pretty good, especially for simple tasks like whisking 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 edges of the batter bowl.
        For baking cookies, you need a high-quality, durable silicone spatula. It should be hard and thick enough to compress the dough, yet soft enough to be easily scraped off the sides of the bowl. Silicone is preferred over old fashioned rubber because it’s food safe, heat resistant and non-stick so you can use a spatula to melt butter or chocolate and also stir and the sticky dough will slip right off (alternatively you can use a spatula in the dishwasher) car).
        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 pots or woks. 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 pin rolls dough more efficiently than a handled pin, is great for rolling cakes and cookies, and is still one of the easiest rolling pins to clean. Plus, it looks good and is durable enough to last you 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 feel comfortable using. However, if you find yourself struggling with sticky or cracking dough, pins that are difficult to maneuver (or homemade wine bottle pins), or keep pins that spin in place rather than rolling smoothly across the surface, it might be time to refresh the surface. . .
        The Timeless Maple Oilstone Wood French rolling pin proved to be an excellent tool and great value in our best rolling pin guide test. Its long, conical shape is easy to turn, so it’s perfect for perfectly round crusts on rolled pies and oblong biscuits. Compared with the surface of conventional mass-produced rolling pins, this solid maple wood rolling pin has a smoother surface that prevents dough from sticking and is easy to clean. While Whetstone pins are a great value compared to other similar hand-turned models, if you bake something less expensive from time to time (or if the Whetstone is sold out), consider the JK Adams 19″ Wood Roll. Our 10 year old tester also found the pin to be easy to use.However, without the tapered end, JK Adams pins are not as flexible as Whetstone pins and therefore a bit awkward to push out.And since the surface of the pin is not as smooth as our main pick, it took much more effort and effort to clean it up.
       This bench scraper has a comfortable, grippy handle, and the blade is engraved with dimensions that won’t fade with time.
        In every professional kitchen you will find a bench scraper. They’re great for everything from trimming rolled out dough to crushing chopped nuts and grinding butter into flour for a pie crust – or even just cleaning the 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 size printed by the competing Norpro Grip-EZ grinder/scraper is more prone to fading.) Cook’s Illustrated recommends the Dexter-Russell Sani-Safe Dough Slicer because it’s sharper than most models and the table scraper’s handle is flatter. and easier to wedge Put under the rolled out dough. However, Dexter-Russell does not specify inches. 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.
       Of all the knives we tested, they had the strongest construction and the cleanest shape.
       When baking with kids, the simpler the better, 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 it is to sort through a dizzying array of individual shapes. For holiday baking, we love Ateco’s range of stainless steel cookie cutters, whether it’s Ateco stainless steel Christmas cookie cutters or Ateco 5-Pack stainless steel snowflake cutters. The shape is crisp and elegant, and of all the knives we’ve tested, the Ateco product has the strongest construction and cuts the cleanest cookies.
        Ateco cookie cutters are made from the thickest metal we have tested and the difference is immediately apparent. Many other metal cookie cutters, such as the 12-pack R&M Holiday Season Classics cookie cutters, are made of tin or tin-plated steel, which bend and deform easily. Ateco knives, while not impossible to bend, were thicker and more resilient in our tests, as it takes a lot of force to bend a little. In addition, there are more welds per Ateco knife than other metal knives, reducing the likelihood of Ateco structure failure. Tin-coated knives are also more prone to rust, but after repeated use, our Ateco knives will still sparkle.
        Ateco Christmas cutters are the smallest we’ve tried, averaging 2.5 inches end to end rather than 3.5 or 4 inches, but that shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you’re not happy with the size of yours. cookies. If so, buy a snowflake set or a 10-piece Ateco stainless steel knife set; these sets come with knives ranging in size 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 option, and the variety – from letters to animals and a few holiday images – means it can handle almost any cookie cutter project your kids want to make. They are plastic so they are not as sharp as metal knives when cutting cold or frozen dough. But they have a wide upper lip, which makes them more comfortable when pressed hard (our young tester hit them lightly, which was probably overkill, but she had fun).
        If you’re short on space or 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. The holiday shapes are nearly identical to some of the 101-piece figures, and they’re great for kids, but they’re not varied enough to be our top pick. In addition to this Christmas-themed set, Wilton also offers a “casual” set that includes four knives with a comfortable handle.
        This biscuit spoon is the most durable and comfortable. 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 with your hands, a cookie scoop can be a game-changer. A good spoon scoops out the contents by squeezing the handle, easily turning into a smooth, perfectly round domed cookie dough (or muffin or muffin dough).
        Biscuit spoons vary in design and quality. We prefer V-grip handles over thumb-only grips, as V-grip handles are both left-handed and right-handed and are easier to grip. It’s important to invest in a good, sturdy spoon or you’ll quickly end up with more frustration and mess than you would with hand-sculpting cookies. Of the five spoons we tested, the Norpro Grip-EZ 2 Stainless Steel Tablespoon was the easiest to grip and the most comfortable to hold, releasing tough fresh dough from the refrigerator and sticky room temperature dough better than any other clean 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. When we scooped up the soft, sticky dough, the Norpro model came out with a slightly cleaner dough. However, OXO costs almost the same as Norpro and if you don’t have Norpro it’s a good alternative. Both brands of scoops also come in different sizes, so you can make as big or small cookies as you want.
       This affordable pan can bake tender, hearty cookies, and sheets are twice the price and less likely to warp in the heat than cheaper models.