Use heavy baking sheets that distribute heat evenly, creating uniformly baked cookies.

When a recipe calls for greased baking sheets, a light spray of non-stick cooking spray is ideal. Even nonstick baking sheets benefit from a light spray.

To keep cookies from spreading, chill the dough before baking.

Cookies become overdone quickly and will continue to cook for several minutes after being removed from the oven. Avoid baking them until they're fully brown. Look for golden brown edges instead.

Leave cookies on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes after they're out of the oven, and then remove them to a cooling rack. Lifting them any earlier leads to tears and breaks. Leaving them on longer can cause them to stick.

When adding nuts to a batter, do so at the very last moment and the nuts will have a crispier texture.

If you're chopping nuts in a food processor, use a portion of the sugar or flour specified in the recipe. It will keep the nuts from sticking together from their oils.

Raisins and other dried fruits are better if plumped before they are added to a dough or batter. Pour boiling water over the dried fruit and soak for 30 minutes. Then drain and blot well on paper towels.

Portion cookie dough into cookie-sized scoops (cut out rolled cookies) and freeze them, in a single layer, in resealable plastic bags. Write the oven temperature and bake time onto each plastic bag. You can enjoy fresh-baked cookies in no time by simply retrieving the desired amount and baking them straight from the freezer. Add a few minutes to the baking time for frozen dough.

To keep baking times consistent, be sure that all cookies are about the same size.

For a professional straight-from-the-bakery look, line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper or foil. Spray the paper or foil lightly with non-stick cooking spray. When the bars are done, set the pan on a rack until cool enough to handle. Using the parchment or foil as a handle, lift the entire bar cookie out of the pan and onto a cutting board.

Use a sharp knife to cut into the desired shape. For triangles, cut into squares; then cut each square in half diagonally. For diamonds, cut parallel lines across the length of the pan, and then cut diagonal lines.

When the bars are completely cool and all toppings are set, layer them between sheets of parchment or waxed paper into an old shoebox.

For soft bar cookies like brownies, use plain floss to cut clean, uniform squares — without the mess.

Before-You-Bake Cookie Decorating Ideas
Chill the dough. Let your kids roll it into balls, and then toss the balls in a plastic sandwich bag with colored sugars to coat them.

Beat an egg yolk with food coloring and let your kids paint designs or faces on cookies.

Let your kids use raisins to create faces on gingerbread cookies. Or they can use sliced almonds to create wings for angels.

Buy a selection of small candies, like cinnamon drops and miniature candy-coated chocolate pieces, and let the kids decorate before the cookies are baked.

After-You-Cake Cookie Decorating Ideas
Be sure to give the cookies plenty of time to cool, so your icing will perform best.

Use a small icing spatula to spread on an even layer of icing. Decorations such as colored sugars or candies should be applied while the icing is wet so it can act as a glue. If icing is to form the base for piped-on decoration, cookies should be allowed to dry completely before a second layer of decoration is added.

Place a few tablespoons of icing in one corner of a heavy-duty plastic bag. Snip off the corner to create an instant pastry bag.

Dip one side of a dark cookie, such as chocolate, into melted white chocolate for a two-tone look.

Heat your favorite flavor of jelly until melted, scrape it into a small bowl, and paint it on cookies with small basting brushes.

You may have done it when you were a kid, but new guidelines tell us that licking out the bowl or licking off the beaters can cause severe illness, because of the possibility of salmonella in raw eggs.

To keep baking times consistent, be sure that all cookies are about the same size.