Silpat Mat - Genius invention

I received a wonderful gift from my hubby last year, and it's one of those things that after you have it, you wonder how you ever lived without it.  It has a crazy  name, it's from France, it makes cooking and baking a breeze, and I've only just begun to scratch the surface on all the things this thing can do! Yes, look no further, it's the wondrous Silpat Mat.

I know it looks like they jumbled up the letters, like it should say "slip mat" or sometimes I even see "splat" when I glance at it.  It was invented by a French chemist and it's made of a glass fiber weave that is reinforced with silicone.  Together they make an amazing non stick surface that REPLACES foil, cooking spray, and/or parchment paper.

As you might of gathered, I am a big (almost card-carrying) fan of the food network.  My favorite shows are Chopped, The Pioneer Woman, and Iron Chef, who tend to use the silpat mats in their shows. Hubby, the thoughtful guy he is, has been on a quest to gift me with food network inspired kitchen gadgets for birthdays and holidays.  I've often said the perfect place to live on this earth would be neighbors with Pat and Gina Neely on one side, Ina Garten on the other, and Ree Drummond across the street.  The Neelys because they are almost always making scrumptious down home BBQ grub and are down right adorable and fun, Ina Garten because she spends a LOT of her time making wonderful food, then giving it away to her neighbors (aka ME), and Ree for her charming family friendly recipes and wit.  Let's visualize what that would look like now:

Sigh... Beautiful!  (Why yes, in my head, all the food network stars live next door to each other, throw fabulous progressive dinner parties, borrow cups of sugar across the fence, and dine together each night on one giant table, thanks for asking).

Ok, back to the silpat mats.  They are a dream.  Nothing sticks to them!!  First, I decided to try the most basic of things to make on a cookie sheet... wait for it... gasp... it's cookies.

Flash forward to 12 minutes later, and voila, you've got a little bit of heaven on a pan

Mmmmm warm and chocolatey, can you smell them???

These cookies, by the way, practically flew off the pan and landed on the cooling rack all by themselves!  (Ok I did use a spatula, but I can attest they came off with the greatest of ease.

Plus, these bad boys are not just for cookies, oh no!  You can make candy, brittle, almond macarons, pastries, cheese crisps (going to try that), breads, pizza, cinnamon rolls or sticky buns turned out onto it, roasted veggies... the list goes on and on.  And cleanup?  A breeze.  It's recommended just to wipe it down or rinse it with some warm water.  I got a tip from another blogger that the best way to dry them is to roll them into a large tube and lean up tall to let both sides air dry at the same time.

So there you have it!  If you haven't got around to trying one of these, you should really try one sometime.  My birthday is next week and I'm hoping I'll get one more as a present (hint hint), so BOTH my half baking sheets will have a silpat friend.