One of the problems I’ve always had with baking cookies in particular is the use of my cookie sheets. First, it’s hard to keep cookie sheets in a good usable condition even if you reserve them just for cookies. Grease burns, cookies stick, all kinds of things happen. And them there’s Chef. Keeping his paws off my cookie sheets has been a challenge even before he started culinary school. Okay, so it’s not any worse now, but using cookie sheets for meat really messes them up when it comes to using them for cookies. I’d buy new sheets every so often and reiterate that they were to be used only for cookies, but like that worked. lol

I recently tried parchment and liked it but wasn’t necessarily impressed…until today. I can use the worst of my cookie sheets with no worries. The bottoms of my cookies are perfect—no rough edges, no scraping, no burning. Better yet, I don’t have to wash sheets between batches or types. And I can lift the cookies off the cookie sheet onto the cooling racks while still on the parchment, let them cool a bit, take the cookies off the parchment, then re-use the parchment! It’s working so far anyway. Last time I used the parchment with cookies that needed greased sheets; this time I’m using it with cookies that need ungreased sheets, and it’s worked for both.

Yes, I can see this getting quite costly, especially since I’ll be cooking or baking almost every week once we’re financially stable, but I don’t care. Beats buying 4 new cookie sheets every year and having messed up cookies. I’m sure there are cookies and such where parchment isn’t such a good idea, but I’ll discover them when I stumble upon them.

We’re doing our cookie baking today. It’s a little late, but this year, because of finances, it’s only for family. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Christmas Eve and has a wonderful Christmas and holiday season.