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I have one and I want another. I use it every time I bake anything. It really is great and surprisingly easy to clean. I have heard they can last a lifetime if well taken care of so they are worth the investment.

I LOVE mine - already on my second set as I have been using these for years. They are critical in my kitchen and I always get beautiful results, perfectly golden macaroons and sugar cookies, never any dark bottoms. They slowly darken over time and eventually need to be replaced but they lasted years and for the price are so worth it. I highly recommend these!

I really like my silpat but have found that for bread products, the crust ends up soggy or at least very moist (because there's not the same venting properties as, say, parchment paper). Love it for cookies, hard candies (like honeycomb toffee), and pizza - but not for pita or other flat breads.

Also, greasy things - like frozen fry products - are quite a bit more difficult to clean off the product.

Love them. But they're a tad pricy.

Has anyone tried any of the non-Silpat silicone baking mats out there? They tend to be just flat silicone without that woven-mat texture, but are much cheaper (about $10).

Has anyone used a Silpat when roasting vegetables or meat?

I love love LOVE my silpat and can't believe I went so long without one. I use it for everything! I bought mine at Winners for about $20.

Michelle - I did purchase a non-silpat baking mat a couple of months back (can't recall the brand - it's red) because it was on sale for under $10. It isn't terrible but I wouldn't buy another one. It just doesn't have the same magical non-stick qualities of the silpat - I've had particularly gooey cookies stick to it, and what's the point of a baking mat if still need to grease it?? I think the Silpat is definitely worth the investment.

To Michelle of Montreal: I've used a non-silpat baking mat from target and it works great! Extremely easy to clean, everything comes off of it cleanly (I've literally never had anything stick to it), and it allows me to skip cleaning my horrible cookie sheets to which everything sticks. I've successfully made scones, mini quiches, cookies, and pizzas on it. Still can't cut on it, so if it's something like a pizza, you transfer to a plate first. But the non-stick surface is so so worth it.

I'd like to know the best way to clean them. I don't use soap but it can still be a little greasy from the cookies or whatever I'm baking. I hear soap permeates the mat and won't fully rinse out.

I used my recently for meat. It was awfully greasy afterwards and a mess to clean. I used soap and now wonder if I have ruined mine.

I have two Silpats, and they don't see a whole lot of use. They're indispensible for candy-making and for certain cookies (such as Florentines or tuile), but for general purpose baking, I stick with parchment paper (bought in stacks of 100 big sheets from Amazon), or occasionally aluminum foil. I only very, very rarely cook on uncovered baking sheets.

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I have a silpat and never use it... I find myself using parchment instead (can transfer batches of cookies off and plop down new paper and put a new batch in right away on the same trays). In the end, there are 10 sheets of paper with 10 batches of cookies to pack. I wouldn't want to use 10 silpats.....

I don't have a silpat (want one!) but I do have some of the cheap-o thin silicon flats, and they're awesome.

I don't have a silpat. I generally use parchment paper for cakes, not really cookies. And I don't make enough cakes for it to be worth it. Maybe if I made candies more often.

I have used both Silpats and parchment and greatly prefer parchment. Cookies don't brown on the bottoms properly with a Silpat and I find the Silpat impossible to clean.

silpats work.