Cookie saving basics

•Baking sheets with no rims or with slightly slanted lips allow heat to circulate around the baking cookies. Rimmed sheets are less suitable, but if they are all you have, you can just turn them over and use the rimless underside.

•Heavy, shiny bright sheets are best: they don't warp and they bake cookies evenly and prevent them from browning too quickly.

•For most drop, sliced or shaped cookies, line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cookies lift off parchment effortlessly; wipe paper after use and reuse until it becomes brittle. Or brush baking sheets lightly with shortening or unsalted butter.

•The ideal way to bake cookies is one sheet at a time on the centre rack of the oven. In the name of speed, you can bake two sheets at a time, in top and bottom thirds of oven, switching and rotating pans halfway through baking time.