So I’ve been on a mission lately. You know the one…it happens every spring. Spring cleaning. Decluttering. Purging. And finding new treasures in the backs of shelves and bottoms of closets.
One such treasure for me.
It was in a plastic tube. It had been in this tube since our wedding. Almost 9 years ago!
Steve and I were married in 2002, and immediately after that we returned to work in the Dominican Republic. We were not able to take many of the lovely wedding gifts that we received with us, so they stayed in storage at my mom’s house. Fast forward to 4 years later when we moved back to the US and to Ohio. We then moved all of our gifts to our home and now here we are 5 years later…still opening them up.
I can’t believe that I missed this one!
Probably because it was in a tube and I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what it was. With 2 little children, a fledgling website turned full time business. Throw in writing a cookbook or two, and a third baby, and it’s really not that surprising that this tube found its way to the back of a bottom shelf. Not to be seen by my eye.
But the first time that I unrolled that puppy, laid it on a baking sheet and baked the first batch on it, I fell in love. Madly in love. Deeply in love.
And then I spent about 3 days moping around, thinking about the past 5 years worth of cookies that were not baked on a silicone baking mat.
I’m not going to even pretend to understand the science or reason why they bake 60 times more perfectly than without one, but they just do.
If someone had told me how wonderful and amazing these were, I would have bought one. And I actually did get another one with a gift card I received for Christmas. So now I have two. And I’m doubly in love.
So if you don’t have one, I highly recommend it. Highly.
If you can’t get one right now, use Swagbucks to earn Amazon credits and get one! Or put it on your next birthday or holiday gift list. They range from $10-$35-ish, depending on the size and quantity. Here’s the best deal: 2 11×15 inch mats for $26.
But I’ll tell you this, the price you pay is worth every perfectly baked cookie that will be baked upon it!
Karen Hiebert says
OMG, my grandma gave that to us for some x-mas or other, I still have figured out how to do it, but its supposed to protect the grease from dripping but its nice to know it can work for baking….
Christy S. Lube says
Aldi had some of these when they had all their Christmas baking stuff… I got 2 😀 I had gotten one awhile ago at a restaurant supply store (I highly recommend checking there if you have one near you, it was much cheaper than the ones I see at Amazon.) Of course, Aldi was the cheapest, but they don’t have them very often! 🙂
Crystal says
I got one there, and then I got one of the giant ones when they marked them down. I am kicking myself for not getting another smaller one because I LOVE them!
Sarah (Frontier Kitchen) says
I found one at TJ Maxx a few months back for $4! I’ve fallen in love with mine too. Not only does it make baking cookies super easy and frustration-free, it also makes clean up easier because you don’t have any bits stuck to the pan. 🙂
silver says
Maybe you can help me figure out my baking mat issue I have. It works great for baking bread, but my cookies actually come out *horrible* when I use the mat. The flatten to a puddle and the edges burn to a crisp while the middle doesn’t cook at all. It’s not the recipe, because the cookies come out great without a mat (I only have one, so I’ve had several batches where half the cookies come out great without the mat and half come out horrible with the mat). I’ve tried freezing the dough and using frozen dough on the mat. I’ve tried using fresh (non-frozen) dough. But every. single. time. the cookies burn on the edges and are raw in the middle.
What am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to put flour on the mat?
Alison says
I just put mine down… no flour. I haven’t had any problems with the edges burning. You are suposed to really follow the directions- as my husband often points out to me. Let them cool on the sheet to continue cooking a little bit but mine works like a dream.
I got one as a gift which I thought, why do I need this! I loved it and my husband got me one for the next christmas but I have those special baking sheets from William-Sonoma (aka wedding present) and so the only one that fits it are the ones at William-Sonoma so they were a little more pricey. I am sure in this day and age of the internet, you can probably find one tons of places. I won’t bake without them anymore. My mom watched me cook and asked what they are… I told her that they were the things that kept my pans from looking like her’s do 🙂
erica says
it could be the pan that you are using under the silpat. I have a light colored aluminum pan + silpat that does great with cookies, and breads, but my dark steel nonstick pan + silpat burns the bottoms and leaves the tops raw.
Shelly says
I got mine at Aldi, too, Christy! But I didn’t pay attention to the size and I didn’t know how big my cookie sheets were (this was an impulse buy through-and-through). Well, the silicone mats are FAR too big for my existing cookie sheets. Oops! I’m either going to upgrade my cookie sheets or stay on the look out for Aldi to have them again and get the smaller ones.
Verena says
Why don’t you just cut the mat to fit your cookie sheets?
I read somewhere that that will work great.
Elizabeth says
Actually it says not to cut them because of the threads that are embedded in the mat. If cut, those threads can get into your food.
Verena says
I didn’t know that. Here in Germany they do sell some mats that are marked as “cut to fit”.
That’s why I figured it would work with all of them.
Terri says
Really? What do you like about cookies baked on it? I bought one for this purpose and ended up hating how my cookies turned out. I will stick with parchment. 🙁
Butternut Squash says
My friend baked some muffins for me over the weekend. She had silicone muffin liners. Amazing! I must have them.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Oh my! I think I must add them to my wishlist too! Wow!
Silpat says
I can’t believe that the silpat was in your drawer for so long. I guess you will now have to cook extra to make up for all the time lost!!
KC says
I’ve also found that the silicone mat is great for rolling out and cutting biscuit dough, pie crust, crescent rolls, etc. Very non-stick! No (or almost no) flour required. So glad I found a much better alternative to my not-s0-nonstick wax paper. So, for those of you who don’t like it for baking, maybe you have a use for it after all! 8~D
Cyndy says
I have a toaster oven that bakes & broils. The pan that fits toaster oven is too small for any of the silpat mats. Can I cut my Silpat to fit oven pan?
Megan says
A silpat should NEVER be cut or cut on. The tread mesh inside is made of fiberglass and will get into your food. I love mine and have multiple sizes.