I have been doing a ton of baking lately and I have been toying with the idea of silpats . Solely because I'm sick of feeling like I'm wasting parchment. I buy rolls of parchment from Walmart but I feel like I need to be buying and using stuff a little smarter. I would love any advice before I go spending more cookie cutter money (eek , don't tell my husband) !
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I only bake on silpats now - so much more convenient. Plus, the cookies bake more evenly and silpats are great for baking tuiles. (Parchment often buckles in the heat of the oven and this wreaks havoc on tuiles.)
I roll on my silpats too, so they do double duty.
I like silpats - I find they bake well, they don't slip around at all & if you've a strong fan oven, the edges don't lift & potentially cause the cookies to be misshapen.
I use a silpat like product. Mine is from IKEA, the swedish insprired big box store. They are pink with pictures of cinnamon rolls on them, and function just like a silpat. I bake with them all of the time, and like the way the cookies turn out. Also picked up some cook cookie cutters while I was there with lots of fun animals...
I use sil-mats, too, for a lot of my baking (cookies and other things.) However, I thought I'd mention that if you have a Sam's Club nearby, they carry a big roll of parchment paper--i.e. 205 sq feet--for around $5. That's a lot cheaper than the 30-ft Reynold's rolls you can get at Walmart for close to $3...at least those are the prices around here. And those big rolls seem to last forever! So, you might want to check that out, if you can.
I use parchment--Costco sells it like Sam's in post above, but ours now bundles it in packages of 2 ginormous rolls for less than $10. I need to consider silpats. I have thinner reusable silicone-coated mats that I bought at Williams-Sonoma years and years ago, but haven't used them in a while. I like them, but just got used to parchment.
I love sil-pats too. You can use them for isomalt and chocolate decor too. There are many brands available on the market from all kind of prices. Clean them with warm wáter and your fingers. An specialist told me not to do that, they should be cleaned with a soft cloth wet on alcohol. I don't know it that would make the life of my pat longer, but I have no problem on how I wash them. But when I have to bake a big batch of cookies, I prefer to use baking paper and I use it 2 times. Star baking paper can be used more times. Sil-pads gives better finish to your cookies, I use it always I want to get a lighter color in my cookies. I use them on a baking sheet and then I put my cake pan over it so my cake can bake better too.
I like using parchment from King Arthur but after reading the reviews I will give silpat another try. Thanks for the info on IKEA.
Sooo after reading all the reviews on silp[at vs parchment I was on the silicone mat hunt. Today I found a great deal at Costco: a set of 3 Silicone mats (2 regular size and a half size mini) for 16.99.
Sooo after reading all the reviews on silp[at vs parchment I was on the silicone mat hunt. Today I found a great deal at Costco: a set of 3 Silicone mats (2 regular size and a half size mini) for 16.99.
Great deal, for sure! 
May sound silly, but I use mine as non-slip surface when transporting cakes, etc.
For those of you living near a Wegman's, they carry baking mats by Tovolo for about 10.00 for a 1/2 sheet sized pan. They work great!
Also, check Ocean State Job Lot, if you have one nearby. I picked up a bunch of them--1/2 sheet pan size--for myself and family members for $5 each a couple of years ago. (I have seen them there since then, as well, though.) They are a generic brand, but they work just as well as the name brand ones. One side is smooth, the other side is slightly textured.
maybe this is a useless comment, but.. I'm happy that i use a cookie recipe that doesn't need using "anything" on my cookies sheets!! the recipe calls for shortening.. and have such amount that i don't need to use silpats or even parchment paper.. and have no troubles with baking and removing my cookies from the cookie sheet
maybe this is a useless comment, but.. I'm happy that i use a cookie recipe that doesn't need using "anything" on my cookies sheets!! the recipe calls for shortening.. and have such amount that i don't need to use silpats or even parchment paper.. and have no troubles with baking and removing my cookies from the cookie sheet
My rolled cookies come off my sheet trays too (other types don't; especially tuiles!) It's just that I often roll and cut large or weird shapes (or even normal shapes) directly on a mat and then move the entire mat to the tray for baking. Cookies stay pretty nearly perfectly shaped this way. So I use my mats for everything, mostly because of my cutting process. Plus, I find the mats easier to thoroughly clean than my cookie sheets.
I just discovered a new product at Sur La Table. It is the reusable cookie sheet liner. It is professional chef grade parchment for non-stick, easy clean cooking and baking. It can be used thousands of times. Easy to clean, simply wipe with a soapy cloth and rinse (but don't immerse in water or place in dishwasher). I use two large cookie sheets when I bake (one to go into the oven and one cooled one for the next batch to go in the oven) so I purchased four of the reuseable cookie sheet liners and use two of the liners per cookie sheet. I love them. I still have to buy parchment paper because I use it in between the cut-out cookies that go into the freezer. Here is the link to purchase online. I work in downtown Seattle so I picked mine up from the Sur La Table store. http://www.surlatable.com/prod...e+Cookie-Sheet+Liner
