Kitchen

[house cat]

I've never had trouble with cookies sticking to the pan.

Are there benefits to those silicone sheets that I'm not aware of?

[VaBelle35]

They are good for certain recipes that have Karo syrup and stuff like that. They are also good for staging stuff on before cooking.

I don't recommend them for baking cookies only because they don't allow the cookie to bake properly so that you get a crisp bottom and evenly cooked inside. They do a better job than airbake pans (you are basically steaming your cookies with those).

I find parchment to work well for things that are overly sticky or if you don't want to dirty your cookie sheet.

I think if you have a use for them they are worth the investment. At one I point I had about 12 of them but I realized I can only use 2 at a time so I sold my extras on eBay. They are like gold.

[hattrick]

Hi Housecat. I have some and I would not be without them! I use them for everything, they aren't just for baking and clean up is a breeze, just wipe with a damp cloth.

I have never been able to make Whoopie Pies, they seemed to spread everywhere. I made them the other day and used my Silpat mats and they look like store bought and they lifted right off.

I've had mine for 4 years and they look like the day I bought them. They are a little pricey, I got mine at HomeGoods, and I think I paid around $20.00 each but they are totally worth it.

[house cat]

Thanks, VaBelle. I was just watching Pioneer Woman and she used them to bake chocolate cookies. I would have baked those on an unlined baking sheet, so I was wondering what the benefit was.

[Mustang Shar]

You know....I'm just not having good feelings about cooking on plastic anymore. I'm not sure how safe anything is these days.

[VaBelle35]

If you are going to invest, I'd put the money into Doughmakers cookie sheets. They have a pebbled surface, so nothing sticks. And they are super thin and heat evenly.

I'd put your $20 into that than the Silpats.

[VaBelle35]

I'm not a fan of silicone because it never seems clean to me, it always feels greasy.

Although Martha has a nice tutorial on how to clean your Silpats from regular use to stained and gross ones.

[DiAnne]

I had one and it never seemed clean. I just use parchment paper now so I can just toss it.

[Daysdee]

I think they would be hard to clean and hard to store.

[chickadee]

I have some and use them all the time. Except I use them for almost everything except baking, lol. I put them under cutting boards/mats, mixing bowls to prevent them from slipping around. I throw them over rectangle bakers as a loose cover when baking. I've cut them into smaller sizes to throw over bowls to use as reusable spatter guards in the microwave or drape them over the back of the stove when cooking something "spattery" to keep everything clean. It's easier to wash off the silicone mat than get all the gook off the knobs on the stove, lol.

I even use a small one to peel garlic. Just throw a few cloves on one, roll it up and roll a few times on the counter and the peels come right off. And they make a good "gripper" for opening jars.

Just toss them in top rack of dishwasher and they are ready to go.

As for baking on them, they are okay for that, but the ones I used for that did turn brown. It didn't really hurt them, but I found that I just prefer using parchment if I'm going to line the sheets with anything.