My Set of 3 Non-Stick Baking Trays or Cookie Sheets - Review

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I had reached the ripe old age of 72 before I ever used a Baking Sheet (also known as a Cookie Sheet).

Before that I had always used a deep baking tray, the sort that comes with your oven, and is used for roasting meat. I hadn't even consciously noticed the existence of flat baking trays.

One day when I was visiting my daughter's family and we were all messing about in the kitchen, I saw that she was using one, and from that moment I was sold on the idea.

I bought a single baking sheet, and found it was very useful for roasting vegetables in a shallow tray. The beauty of cooking with a shallow tray is that it doesn't take up much room in the oven, height-wise, so you could cook meat at the top of the oven, vegetables in the middle, and a pudding or sweet on the bottom shelf. This is especially useful if you are cooking for several people, and space in the oven is at a premium.

Once I began using it, I discovered that it was great for baking ready-made pies, pastries, taco shells, fish cakes, frozen chips, crispy baked vegetables, and partially cooked bread sticks.

More Useful Than a Deep Pan

I started to use this flat baking sheet more and more, because it took up less room in the dishwasher than a deep pan, and was therefore more manageable - a bit like finding space for a plate rather than a saucepan, if you get my meaning.

Then I noticed in shops that you could get whole sets of these cookie sheets, and I decided that, regardless of price, I must have a set. In fact they were not particularly expensive at all, well under $20 (approximately £12), and the new ones were non-stick, and therefore very easy to use and keep clean.

So I bought myself a present - a set of three baking sheets, and I have been delighted with them. They are three different sizes, so you can cook, say, lots of baked vegetables on the larger tray, a few chicken Kievs (dare I mention that city whilst it is currently in uproar?) on the medium tray and a few mince pies on the smaller tray. Being non-stick, the trays are particularly easy to clean, and are dishwasher safe.

You can use various other vegetables by trial and error - some of them are nicer baked than others.

For instance, as well as, or instead of some of the vegetables listed in the ingredients below, you could use sliced potato, sweet potato, aubergine, leek, tomato, celeriac, or breadfruit (but not leafy vegetables like cabbage or spinach) - just experiment.

Have you tried baking sheets? What's your opinion of them? Have I persuaded you to think about getting some?