Tis no longer the season for baking cookies, roasting holiday meats, and constantly using baking pans. Phew. You made it through! However, after a month of hard use it would be no surprise if some of your baking sheets look a little worse for wear. Whether they're patina tinged, mottled with black burns, or dented, don't think that they are out of commission.
Videos by Wide Open Country
In fact, sometimes those baking sheet that are a far cry from their shiny origins are the best tools to have in your kitchen.
1. Roasted Everything
Even the most scarred and charred baking sheets can be resuscitated. Though they may not look like their former selves, that's ok. It just means that they're excellent for another task: roasting veggies.
Blackened baking sheets are the ingredient you've been missing. Their surface helps you quickly achieve that crispy, deeply-browned surface that you want on your roast veggies. Plus, they are excellent for other messy kitchen tasks that need to be contained like roasting meat, glazing cakes, and holding any variety of ingredients in one place.
2. Food Photo Surface
This may not be a useful plus for everyone, but a beautiful patina on a baking sheet can become an excellent background for those photos of your artfully constructed dishes that you post on your blog or Instagram.
3. Serving Tray
Similarly, discolored trays can be a unique way to plate your dishes when you're serving guests. It will be unexpected and beautiful in the originality of its composition.
Even if they are more black than artfully patina-colored, you can still use them as a sturdy serving tray to carry meat back and forth from the grill or simultaneously transport multiple dishes from the kitchen to the dining room.
4. Magnet Board
Try a more crafty way to reuse your burnt cooking sheets with a complete re-conceptualize of what a baking sheet can be. Try a magnet board.
With just a little acrylic paint, fabric, glue gun, and magnets you can transform an ugly, overused cookie sheet into a memento and reminder holder.
You can find detailed instructions on Sadie Seasongoods.
5. Plant Presentation
Another crafty, yet practical use for an old cookie sheet is to use it as a plant holder. Just fill it with your favorite pebbles and set your plants on top. This way, you will be able to water your plants inside without having to fret that they will leak all over and ruin your floors.
Plus, the trapped water underneath will help keep the plants' roots hydrated so that they don't become brittle in their climate-controlled environments.
