The Gear You Need to Bake the Best Holiday Cookies

Whether you're hosting an epiccookie swapor just want to whip up a few treats for friends and family members this holiday season, making sure your baking arsenal is stocked with the right tools willensure your cookies really sparkle。What essentials should make the cut? We took an inventory of our kitchen MVPs and asked some of the best bakers we know to tell us about the gear they can't live without.

Here's a handy list of everything we'll be reaching for this season:

You might be thinking: Sure, I have a big bowl. But do you? Because when we say big, we mean really, really, really big. Epic, gigantic. Go on and get yourself at least one bowl that is plunge-in-up-to-your-elbows enormous, and trust us, you will wonder how you ever lived without it. The extra space lets you attack a big batch of dough with your hand mixer without worrying about debris littering your counters; it'll allow you to knead yeast doughs with room to move, and it means you will easily be able to double or triple that batch of sugar cookies everyone in your family goes crazy about. We love our big oldMason Cash bowl(and not just because it makes us feel like we're below stairs at Downton Abbey)—but for ease of handling, affordability, and durability, you can't go wrong with a 20-quart restaurant-style stainless steel bowl, like the oneavailable here。

To buy:梅森现金碗，40美元amazon.com

To buy:不锈钢搅拌碗，25美元amazon.com

If you inherited your grandmother's well-worn rolling pin, by all means, keep using it—the best rolling pin is the one you're most comfortable with. (And of course, an empty wine bottle can always get the job done in a pinch.) But for smoothing out cookie doughs and prepping pastry crusts (not to mention a whole host of other tasks) our go-to roller isJK Adams 19-inch Rolling Dowel。Sturdy, simple, and affordably priced, it rolls evenly and cleanly every time and is built to last you through a lifetime of kitchen projects.

To buy:JK Adams 19-inch Rolling Dowel, $25 atamazon.com

Measuring cups are not all created equal. Irregularities in size between manufacturers can make consistent measuring a hassle and using cups that are lightweight and prone to tipping leads to unnecessary messes in the kitchen. For dry measuring, we likeKitchenMade's 6-piece Stainless Steel set为了均衡的重量，精确的措施和易于存储。（嵌套杯是必须的！）

To buy:KitchenMade's 6-piece Stainless Steel Nesting Set, $25 atamazon.com

For liquid measuring, we always reach forOXO's angled measuring cups, which make reading measures from above a cinch and are easy to clean, to boot.

To buy:Oxo Good Grips 3件式倾斜的测量集，$ 20amazon.com

Baking sheets are the bricks that form the foundation of countless cooking projects, whether you're roasting veggies or churning out batch after batch of holiday cookies. So it's worth spending an extra few pennies to invest in ones that are generously sized, well made, and super durable. Among the experts we surveyed (and in our own test kitchens), commercial-grade rimmed half sheet pans—likeNordicware's Commerical Grade Aluminum Half Sheet——黄金标准。他们符合我们的烤箱完美ly and never, ever buckle. Buy them by the half dozen: you can never have too many. And while you're at it, pick up a few quarter sheet pans, too; they're handy for corralling mise en place and all manner of smaller projects.

To buy:Nordic Ware Aluminum Baker's Half Sheet Set, $20 atamazon.com; Quarter Sheet, $14 atamazon.com

水分,heat-resistant parchment paperis a serious baker's not-so-secret weapon. Cover your work surface with it to make cleanup effortless; use it to line your baking sheets to extend their lives and prevent scratching and sticking; fold it into muffin tins when you need on-the-fly paper liners, or slip it under the edges of a layer cake while decorating it to collect fly-away bits of frosting. Parchment paper does it all. A little upgrade that will change your life? Invest in the pre-cut sheets of parchment that pros swear by—they fit a standard half sheet pan perfectly, and you'll never again have to struggle with using scissors while your hands are covered in dough.

To buy:Reynolds Premium Parchment Paper, $4 atamazon.com

Thanks to the magic of the internet, these days you can find cookie cutters for every holiday, occasion, and obsession. But for most cooks, the best place to begin is with a few sets of graduated-size cutters in versatile shapes like stars, squares, and circles (fluted or plain), which can do double duty any time you need to make biscuits, hand pies, or dumplings. If you'd like to give yourself a treat or get fancy with your gingerbread around the holidays, you can always pick up a fewnew shapesat a time.

To buy:6-piece Graduated Star Cookie Cutter Set, $12 atamazon.com

To buy:11件圆形不锈钢曲奇切割机，13美元amazon.com

To buy:Ugly Christmas Sweater #1 Cookie Cutter, $15 atamazon.com

Sure, you could use a regular old tablespoon. But for precise portioning of cookie dough and perfectly round drop-style cookies every time, there is no tool more reliable and indispensable than aspring-mounted scoop。勺子有各种各样的措施，从娇小到垒球大小，但在我们的日常烘焙中medium 1 ½ tablespoon modelis the one we reach for most.

To buy:Norpro不锈钢曲奇勺，12美元amazon.com

To buy:OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop, $15 atamazon.com

Do you know that part of the recipe that says to transfer your cookies to a rack to cool before storing them? It's not just there to fill space. Giving warm baked goods ample time to rest on a surface that allows airflow to evenly circulate to all sides can make the difference between nice crispy edges and soggy slumps. If you don't have awire baking rack, the time to get one is now. They come in myriad sizes, but our favorite models sit perfectly inside a standard half sheet pan, which collects crumbs and makes it easy to keep stray frosting contained.

To buy:KitchenMatics Stainless Steel Cooling and Roasting Rack, $15 atamazon.com

没有人愿意做一批美丽的饼干，只是看着它们在从烤盘到冷却架的旅程中崩溃。这就是为什么要好的cookie spatula- 足以轻松地在最细腻的面团下轻松滑动，但足以支撑它们 - 总是很方便。较小，更狭窄偏移率are also must-haves for transporting fragile cutout shapes and for applying thin layers of jam or frosting during cookie filling and decorating.

To buy:Norpro不锈钢曲奇铲，11美元amazon.com

To buy:Ateco Small Sized Blade Ultra Spatula, $4 atamazon.com

糕点刷pull their weight in our kitchen all year long, but never more so than during the holiday baking season when we use them to brush egg washes onto doughs, brush crumbs from cut-out cookies and baking sheets, and apply decorative glazes. Some of the experts we spoke to said they like to designate dry brushes and wet brushes, buying separates for each task—and at$10 for a set of two, that's not an extravagance. Finally, if you're going to get serious about cookie decorating, even just once a year, it's worth investing in a small array ofculinary-grade paintbrushesthat are essential for detailed designs and fine mark making.

To buy:Set of 4 Silicone Pastry Brushes, $8 atamazon.com

To buy:Set of 2 Natural Bristle Pastry Brushes, $10 atamazon.com

To buy:5-Piece Decorating Pastry Brush Set, $5 atamazon.com

A piping bag may seem like an unnecessary extravagance if you're not a frequent baker, but the truth is that there's no easier way to add a professional flair to your holiday cookies than piping on sugary frosted rosebuds, stars, and swirls.Plastic coated cloth versions便宜，可重复使用，相对易于清洁，并将通过大量项目持续下去。投放a set of metal tips在有趣的尺寸和形状中，您将立即提高蛋糕和饼干游戏。

To buy:Ateco Plastic Coated Decorating Bag, $5 atamazon.com

To buy:Ateco 6件式糕点管和提示套装，$ 8amazon.com

To achieve deep and concentrated colors when tinting doughs and frostings, most bakers use凝胶食用vwin德赢ac米兰色素- 曾经很难在专业商店外面找到的专业级产品，但现在很容易且负担得起在线来源。这是强大的东西 - 您只需要几滴即可获得出色的结果。但是，如果像我们一样，您有时会犹豫地在您的家人的食物中添加不必要的添加剂，市场上也有一些很棒的自然选择：我们特别喜欢vwin德赢ac米兰dyes from Watkins和India Tree。For finishing touches, you'll always be glad to have a well-stocked supply of playfulcandy sprinkles,彩虹砂糖,nonpareils， 和dragees。After all, every holiday deserves a little sparkle.

To buy:Wilton Gel Food Color Set, $3 atamazon.com

To buy:Watkins Assorted Food Coloring, from $7 atamazon.com

To buy:India Tree Natural Decorating Colors, $19 atamazon.com

To buy:Wilton 6-color Christmas Sprinkle Mix, $13 atamazon.com