You Need This $15 Cookie Scoop — Even If You’re Not Much of a Baker

There’s evidence of perfection in bakery-style cookies. They are consistently sized and always oh-so-round with craggy-crisp edges and a chewy center. You can tell that cookies made my a pro are almost never shaped with a pair of soup spoons. (Surely I’m not the only one who has done this?) You likely know that the key to baking perfectly shaped and textured cookies is a spring-loaded scoop.

Well, I’m here to provide a friendly Public Service Announcement that you need one of these scoops — even if you’re not a frequent baker. And not just any scoop! One scoop in particular.

I added the OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop (the medium part of this is really key!) to my culinary tool chest to replicate the bakery-bought sweets, and soon learned that it is more versatile than I ever imagined. This spring-loaded scoop portions meatball mixtures evenly and without the mess, produces perfectly round and even pancakes, and delivers picture-worthy scoops of ice cream.

The best kitchen tools are the tools that go beyond their intended purpose — and make the most mundane and repetitive tasks easy and more efficient. This scoop checks all those boxes. The no-slip rubber-handled scoop is comfortable to hold and absorbs the pressure of even the stiffest chilled cookie dough. The fun-to-use wiper clears the scoop of even the stickiest mixtures with a single spring-loaded swipe.

And I’m not alone in my adoration for OXO’s cookie scoop: Kitchn editors unanimously voted to include it in this year’s Kitchn Essentials list, as the best ice cream scoop (noting that it’s good for so much more).

One last plug for this humble little cookie scoop: I honestly believe it can help make us all better home cooks. Every meal we make teaches us something and OXO’s cookie scoop comes ready to teach its own lessons. Yes, seriously. When it comes to the best results, it’s the details that matter. The difference between a tender, moist cake and one that is dry and over-baked could simply be fixed with the use of a cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly between baking pans (rather than just eyeballing it). The same logic follows for meatballs, drop biscuit dough, and even buttermilk pancakes. This cookie scoop can help you learn quick lessons that would otherwise take years of trial and error. After a decent set of knives and an instant-read thermometer, this spring-loaded scoop is the single best kitchen tool that can help you out in the kitchen.

Buy: OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop, $16.95

Do you have the OXO cookie scoop? Tell us your favorite way to use it.

This cookie scoop also made our Kitchn Essentials list of the tools and gadgets that Kitchn editors believe will help you cook better in 2020. See the whole list here.