Short answer: yes, and it is one of the cheapest upgrades you can make to a baking routine. Leave a hot tray of cookies or a loaf on the worktop and the underside steams in its own heat. You get a soft, slightly damp bottom instead of a crisp one, and sometimes a stuck-on cookie too.
A rack lifts everything off the surface so air can move all the way round. That is the whole trick, and it matters more than you would think for brownies, shortbread and anything with a crust.
The one I would point you at
The Spring Chef 10 x 15 inch stainless steel cooling rack is sized to sit inside a standard jelly roll pan, which is the bit I like most. Exact dimensions are roughly 10 by 14.8 inches, so it sits neatly in a standard jelly roll pan.
- Solid 304 (18/8) stainless steel, with no plating or non-stick coating to chip or flake into your food.
- Oven safe up to 575 degrees F, so it works as a roasting rack as well as a cooling one.
- Four raised feet for air flow underneath.
- Dishwasher safe, which is handy because the tight grid does hold onto baked-on grease.
Where it earns its keep beyond cooling
Put it in the pan, lay chicken thighs or bacon on top, and the fat drips away instead of leaving the meat to sit in it. The grid is tight enough that smaller bits of veg will not fall through. It is also a decent surface for glazing or icing, since the drips land in the tray rather than all over the counter.
If you only bake the odd cake, a rack is still worth it. If you bake weekly, you will wonder how you managed without one.
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