Celebrate National Cookie Day with a pro baker's tips for making Santa-worthy treats

Mix, serve and store dishes in these stainless steel mixing bowls. The set includes five bowls ranging in size from 0.7 quarts to 4.5 quarts, and all come with colorful lids. Other perks: You can nest them in your cabinets to save space, they're dishwasher-friendly and they're dent- and rust-resistant.

I try to minimize waste in the kitchen as much as possible, which is why these reusable silicone baking mats come in clutch. Not only do they help keep my parchment paper costs to a minimum, they also protect my sheet trays from caked-on gunk. 

The nonstick material is a breeze to clean, and I find that I can still achieve a nice golden brown on the bottoms of my cookies when I use them. Plus, I don't have to pry the cookies off once they're out of the oven — they can easily be lifted with a spatula. Pro tip: For dough that needs to be rolled out, you can roll it out on this rather than your counter to make cleanup a whole lot easier.

The Silpat brand is expensive, but it's the most durable I've tried — you won't have to replace it for a looong time!

I always bake my pies on these No. 1 bestselling trays, for several reasons. First, because I can preheat the tray in the oven before I pop my pie in, which gives the crust a quick zap of heat right away. Plus, pies can be drippy, so the tray is there to catch any filling that oozes out. Much easier to clean the tray than the bottom of my oven!

Rather than mixing butter into my pie dough with my hands, I cut it into my flour using this trusty tool. This way, the heat from my hands won't make the butter too soft — butter needs to be cold if it's a flaky crust you're after. Once my crust has been rolled out, I slide my bench scraper underneath to cleanly lift it from the rolling surface and into my pie dish. So much easier than trying to pry it up with my hands!

My Oxo oven mitt is one of my most-reached-for kitchen essentials. Its silicone upper offers excellent grip and heat protection, but it's not rigid — I can easily move my fingers when they're inside the glove. 

Psst: Mother's Day is coming up, and this would make a stellar gift for the baker in your life.

Using a cookie scoop is the best way to portion out your dough to ensure each cookie is the same size. Not only will they look prettier this way, keeping everything as uniform as possible will help ensure they all finish baking at the same time, too. 

When you take baked goods like cookies out of the oven, the heat of the pan will continue to cook them. That's why you need cooling racks on hand — by resting your treats on these, more air will circulate around them, allowing them to cool faster and keep from over-baking. 

For the most precise measurements, weighing is always best, as scooping ingredients like flour into a measuring cup can yield wildly different amounts every time. This No. 1 bestselling scale can accurately weigh up to 11 pounds and its sleek design makes it easy to stow away when not in use. 

The one caveat to the scale above is when you're measuring ingredients in very small amounts, such as baking powder, baking soda and the like. For those, I use measuring spoons — namely, this gold set. Not only is it pretty (which makes me more excited to bake), but I appreciate that the markings are etched in rather than printed on. That way, I know they won't fade over time. 

At $10, it won't cost you much dough at all. 

Plan on preparing a pie? This ingenious rolling pin comes with four sizes of ring attachments that'll take the guesswork out of rolling out your dough to 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 or 3/8 of an inch, depending on what the recipe calls for. It also includes a handy pastry mat with all of the measurements you'll ever need (and will prevent you from making a mess of your counter). Works for cookie dough, too!

Your cookies look perfectly golden brown when they come out of the oven — don't mess them up by leaving the bottoms stuck to the tray! This silicone spatula is just the thing to wriggle underneath your treats to loosen them from the pan and place on cooling racks while keeping them intact. 

Cookie cutters are a must if you're going for precise shapes, but here's a little baking hack for ya: If you're making cookies that are supposed to be round and they come out a little wonky, take a round cookie cutter that's slightly larger than the cookie, place it over the cookie and move it in a circular motion so that all sides of the cookie touch it at some point. If you do this while the cookies are still hot, it'll help round out those edges, and no one will be the wiser. This pack comes with just about every size you could need — and if you're planning on doing holiday-themed cookies, this Wilton 18-piece set includes tons of fun shapes. 

A dusting of powdered sugar is my go-to when it comes to covering up imperfections — hey, cookie cracks happen! This little sifter offers better control than using a large strainer, and I also use mine for keeping citrus seeds out of the juice when making lemon and orange glazes. 

Of course, a holiday cookie tin isn't complete without treats of the sprinkled variety, and I opt for naturally dyed versions whenever possible. These No. 1 bestsellers are festive, taste great (they're nice and chewy) and get their color from plant-based ingredients.