The Best Baking Mat for Sugar Cookies
If you were to poll all your favorite bakers, likely they would all have a favorite type or brand of baking mat or baking sheet liner. Some swear by parchment paper because it’s inexpensive and easy to come by. Others swear by fancy silicone mats.
Recently, perforated silicone mats have been so popular amongst cookie bakers that they sell out within minutes of being restocked.
As someone who used to swear by inexpensive parchment paper from Costco, but now primarily uses silicone mats from Amazon Basics, I wanted to know which one was best. Or if I was missing out on something even better!
I decided to test out several different types of silicone mats, perforated mats, and parchment papers to once and for all figure out the best baking mat, especially for baking sugar cookies.
In order to make sure that baking mats were tested in the same way, I tried to keep the testing as consistent as possible. All of the cookies were baked in the same oven on the same racks (rotated at the same time), at the same temperature, and for the same amount of time.
After the cookies were baked, I evaluated the cookies based on 1) how much the cookies brown, 2) how well the cookies kept their shape, and 3) the final texture of the cookie.
Before I get into the rankings, I wanted to share some general observations. Some who have tried the perforated mats claim that they dry out the cookies. I did not experience that. In fact, the cookies baked on the silicone mats and parchment had a crispier outer crust but were tender inside. The cookies baked on the perforated mats weren’t as crispy and seemed to have a more even texture all the way through. I also noticed that with the perforated mats, that the cookies did rise a bit more and seed a bit “puffier” resulting in a slightly domed top.
Now that we’ve got ALL of that out of the way, let’s get to the results. I am going to rank them from best to worst.
Cookie criteria were rated on a scale from 1-5. 1 being “bad” and 5 being “great”.
And finally for the rankings! My favorite baking mat based on all the criteria was….
#1 Silpain Perforated Baking Mat
Browning: 4.5
Shape: 4.9
Texture: 4.5
Silpain is the mesh version of the Silpat baking mat. It was specifically made for bread baking because the open mesh allows for air to circulate and create a crispy crust. But when used for cookie baking, it helps the dough retain it’s original shape after baked. And compared to its mesh baking mat counterparts, it actually resulted in a very evenly baked cookie.
#2 Chua Cookie Perforated Baking Mat
Browning: 4.5
Shape: 4.5
Texture: 4.5
This Chua Cookie stands out not only because of its pretty pink hue, but because it is so popular amongst cookiers she can hardly keep them in stock! It is similar to the Silpain mat in its mesh design but slightly thinner. The resulting cookies browned a bit more on the bottom and spread out just a tad more.
#3 OXO Silicone Baking Mat
Browning: 4.5
Shape: 4.0
Texture: 4.5
OXO is known around my house for storage containers not baking, so I was a bit surprised to see it ranked so highly in other polls for the best baking mats. I was surprised to see how well the cookies turned out compared to some of it’s silicone mat peers. The cookies browned perfectly and evenly, they spread out some, and they remained super soft and moist on the inside. If you prefer a soft cookie over one with razor sharp edges, then this will be your top pick!
#5 (tie) Silpat Silicone Baking Mat
Browning: 4.0
Shape: 4.0
Texture: 4.5
Silpat seems to be the gold standard for silicone mats. It was one of, if not the first silicone mat on the market and paved the way for the craze we see today. However, Silpat branded mats often come with steep price tags which is why now there are so many alternatives. Despite, or maybe because of, that it performs at the top of my list. With a relatively even bake (slightly more brown underneath), retains the shape of the cookie with a little spread, and keeps the moisture in the cookie.
#5 (tie) Amazon Basics Silicon Baking Mat
Browning 4.5
Shape: 4.0
Texture: 4.0
The Amazon Basics mat is my go-to mat. Not only is it less expensive than its French counterpart, but it also performs just as well. The cookies were evenly baked with a slightly browner bottom side, they spread out a tad more, and had a nice tender center with a slightly crispy outer edge.
#7 (tie) Kitzini Silicone Baking Mat
Browning: 4.0
Shape: 4.0
Texture: 4.0
I had never heard of the Kitzini brand of mats until research for this project. This is the top-rated silicone mat on Amazon. While this is a perfectly good baking mat, it didn’t nearly perform as well as some of the others. While the color on the cookies was good, it was slightly uneven. The cookies definitely spread out and not evenly, either. I also found the cookies to be a little be crispy on the bottom even compared to the other silicone mats.
#7 (tie) WEISE Perforated Baking Mat
Browning: 3.5
Shape: 4.5
Texture: 4.0
This “generic” brand of the baking mat can be found on Amazon as a suitable alternative for the Silpain or Chua Cookie mats. One odd thing about it is that it doesn’t fit quite right in a standard half sheet baking pan. But it still works admirably well for the price. Compared to all the other mats, this one produced the most “browned” cookies. The underside of the cookie was a completely different color than the top. The cookies spread less than the silicon mats, but more than the other perforated mats. Also, because of the texture, the bottom of the cookie was pretty crunchy.
#8 Zenology Parchment Paper
Browning: 4.0
Shape: 3.5
Texture: 4.0
I was really rooting for this one because not only does it come in perfectly sized sheets that can easily slip onto your baking sheet, cleanup is a breeze! Unfortunately, it didn’t quite stack up to the rest of the competition. The color on the cookies was good but uneven. Also, the cookies were slightly misshapen, not only spreading unevenly but spreading more at the base of the cookie than at the top.
#9 Kirkland’s Parchment Paper
Browning: 4.0
Shape: 3.5
Texture: 4.0
This was my go-to baking sheet liner before I found Amazon Basics mats but sadly, it let me down in this experiment. It performed just about as well as Zenology parchment, except that it isn’t already perfectly sized. So not only does it produce unevenly browned and shaped cookies, but it is also much less convenient.
Just a quick note about this particular batch of cookies, I tested a new recipe that contained baking powder and a tad more sugar than my normal recipe. The former aids the cookies in becoming a bit softer, but also can lead to some spreading. The latter will cause the cookies to brown more quickly.