Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Anna Monette Roberts
Until about a year ago, I had never heard of the word "Silpat." I'm not exactly a Great British Baking Show [1] contender, but I do love whipping up a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies [2] from time to time. And now I can't believe I ever went a day without a Silpat [3], aka the nonstick baking mat made of fiberglass mesh and food-grade silicone that won't let anything — anything — stick to it.
This is a Silpat [4] ($30 at Williams Sonoma; sold at most cookware stores). The popular product, which has a loyal following, is made in France and has been around since the late 1960s. What makes it such a game changer is that it eliminates the need for nonstick spray, butter, or parchment paper, and it's reusable and will last years (two to three thousand uses [5], according to the brand). You place it directly on a baking sheet and put cookie dough, biscuits, garlic herb baked pretzels [6] (pictured below), scones, or anything else you want to bake right on top of it. Some of them even come with different shapes, like the outline of a cookie, for perfect placement.
Image Source: Jelly Toast [8]
A Silpat can withstand oven temperatures up to 480°F, and the mesh material allows for evenly distributed baking. When your food is done and has cooled, it lifts right off the mat with no stuck-on residue. The best part? There's zero mess on your sheet pan, and you simply have to give it a quick rinse. When I'm done with my Silpats, I wash, dry, and store them (you can store them flat or rolled up like a poster), and rejoice in the fact that my baking cleanup was a little easier than it was in my pre-Silpat days. I have two Silpats in my kitchen, and although I cook [9] a lot more often than I bake, I look forward to trying out easy baking recipes [10] that give me an excuse to bust them out.