I also love the aluminum food service half sheet pans (such as shown in the photo on this page). They can be gotten at Smart & Final, if you have those stores around you. I find myself using them for *everything* (example: making bacon in the oven). Paired with a tube of pre-cut parchment from the King Arthur store, I can't believe I ever got along without them for actual baking.

I am all about the stoneware, they dont break, aren't hard to clean, and they turn out GREAT cookies

I have a pair of Nordic Ware food service type half sheet pans. They take the abuse and hold up really well. Love 'em.

I love my air-bake sheets but still keep my old ones because it drives me ABSOLUTELY BANANAS when I try to bake up a batch of french fries or something else slidey-and-dry and WOOSH they go zooming off the cookie sheet, all over the oven floor, oooo the humanity...

EDIT: Point being, air bakes are the best in my opinion, but damn I wish they had edges like the old cookie sheets.

but what are the best brands!?

and anyone wanna help out a sister living in canada? amazon costs an arm and leg to ship here.

I love the commercial 1/2 sheet pans too. I just bought some this year and all my cookies came out wonderfully. That paired with parchment it's a dream. I have the Nordic Ware Food service brand too.

pepsin: best brand? I think the Nordic Ware ones are the best! But, I may be partial because they are from Minnesota. They are made in the USA which I think is important!

http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Bakers-Half-Sheet/dp/B000G0KJG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292360958&sr=8-1

I love my 13 x 18 Chicago Metallics, which I think are, technically, considered "jelly roll pans." Used with parchment, they bake evenly without sticking, and the generous lip ensures that nothing rolls off.

Check out Costco. I purchased a set of 3 with plastic covers that I love. Saw another set there just the other day.

I absolutely love, love, love my half sheet 'jelly roll' pans. They do everything and don't break. I've even used them for water baths for creme brule before. And with parchment paper nothing sticks. Look for 'Restaurant Supply' in your phone book and call to see if they sell to the public, most do. I get tons of stuff at my local one.

Commercial sheet pans for me too. CHEAP (mine I think were like 6 or 7 bucks for a half sheet) and every town has a restaurant supply nearby. No excuses for paying 30 bucks for some hunk of junk Calphalon or Wilton airbake. If you really want to make it worthwhile, just invest in a few Silpats and you'll never look back.

I also love my half (and quarter!) sheet 'jelly roll' style pans. I bought mine at Gordon Food Supply (don't need a membership to shop) and they're made by Lincoln Wear-Ever, in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

I used to use those air-bake pans, but cookies, etc don't brown as well on them.

But as for the original question - what pans can be cut on? Um, no sheet pan that I've ever heard of can be used as a cutting board. Next time, slide that tart off the pan and on to a plastic or wooden cutting board and save your pans!

Mine are aluminum, brand Nordic Ware. I got them at Costco a couple of years ago and I saw they have a similar package this year but even better-they come with lids for transporting!

I sell bakeware in the store I manage and I make sure to use and test all the products we sell (awesome perk, but I don't get to keep them). And I come from a background in the culinary field. And over and over again, I come back to the standard untreated, uncoated, light colored aluminum 1/4 and 1/2 sheets (also called jelly roll pans) that I picked up years ago (and are super cheap in comparison to other models). They are the pans that recipes are actually written for as the color and the thickness of these sheets best utilize the heat in the oven. NordicWare makes awesome ones or if you're in Seattle, we have a local company called Fat Daddio's that are equitable. And never use non-stick or dark pans, you'll just end up with burnt bottoms and mushy tops.

best cookie sheets I've ever had were simple 16"x20" sheets of 18-20 gauge stainless. one short edge bent at 90º. because there were no rims or edges, they did not have to be thick to not buckle when heated.

you could use them as cookie sheets, a pizza peel, wind screen, cookies would slide off the edge, with the bottoms properly cooked... heaven... and almost impossible to find anymore. if anyone knows of a source? otherwise it's back to buying sheet steel and looking for a bender...

I've always hated those air-bake cookie sheets... I have one, but I find that it really does not bake well. It's supposed to be good for keeping both sides of a cookie the same light shade, but I find the cookies tend to be underdone.

I like to have both the heavy-gauge aluminum half sheets, as well as healf sheets of French black steel, because they bake beautifully.

http://www.jbprince.com/professional-foodservice-equipment/sheet-pans.asp?viewall=1

I like my plain, shiny aluminum half and quarter commercial sheet pans - I particularly like that they have edges, which means you can use them for other things like roasting vegetables or even meats.

HOWEVER, they scratch like the dickens. Of course, I don't know of any sheet pan that doesn't scratch like the dickens, but that's just me.

I do want to try a baking stone at some point - especially for baking bread.

For cookies/baked goods that are delicate, I like using a glass baking dish, the bottoms don't burn as quickly and you can cut into it (gently) without worrying about scratches.

Half and quarter commercial sheet pans for Texas Sheet Cake, jelly roll, fries, roasting...hated AirBake. And when I want to use them specifically for cookies and don't want an edge on the pan...I turn them over and use the back side.

I love my Doughmakers baking sheets, but I typically use parchment with them.

I have a heavy duty Revere stainless jelly roll pan that I got as a wedding gift that I don't like for cookies but it is a real workhorse for everything else.

I ADORE my Airbake style pan (can't remember the exact brand but its one of the ones with air in the middle, an American brand). It makes brilliant cookies (and bread gets a much better oven rise on it - I don't have room for a baking stone but I don't mind when it works so well on it).

BUT - you do cut into the material. Once I realised though, I just put parchment down, I actually use this reuseable teflon-coated 'parchment' so I don't need to bother with the cutting and sticking, just give it a wipe with washing up liquid afterwards. Then I don't have to wash the cookie sheet at all.

Serious Eats did an an equipment post on this earlier today: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/equipment-which-is-the-best-cookie-sheet.html

I have two favorites: commercial aluminum for multi-tasking. And USAPans, which are a steel/aluminum combo coated in silicone, for easy cleanup. The latter is my preference for cookies.

El-cheapo commercial 1/2 sheet pans (I think I paid around $5 for mine), plus parchment = perfection.

SILPAT!SILPAT!SILPAT!

They take commercial sheet pans to the next level.

I paid $8 for a set of three at Ross. They're all dif sizes and nonstick..that's all you need, and so far the ones that haven't burnt my cookies bottoms. I love em.

I really love my Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch pans- I use them with a Silpat and my cookies come out perfectly every single time, even at altitude (Denver). I only use them for baking, never for cooking potatoes or the like, so they stay nice.

Pepsin - Superstore sells a pretty good version of the aluminum pans and if I recall correctly, they come with the plastic covers. Awesome! Otherwise, Sears carries Nordicware and it often goes on sale for 30% off. Worth it even at full price, though. Happy hunting!

pepsin - I got mine through Epicure (just like the one's pictured)