A friend indeed!

My dear friend A- (honey, you'll have to let me know if it's ok to say), well, my dear friend A- gave me this fantastic gift for my birthday and I thought I would share it with everyone.

Well, not really share it. It's mine. You'll have to go buy your own or have friends like A- buy them for you.

It's the Silpat silcone baking mat. I've been wanting one of these for the LONGEST time! It's fantastic. You place this on top of your baking stone or cookie sheet when you're baking and it does several things for you:

1. Less mess! If your cookies melt, it's on the mat!
2. Easier to get out of the pan- MAN! for GF bakers, this is IT, MAN! Usually, the sugars and oils in GF cooking make this really incredible seal with the cookie sheet. It's something that the Navy should use. But, it usually makes it rather difficult if you're trying to pry your cookie off the sheet instead of building submarines. With the mat, you put it down, cook it, and then you can PEEL the cookie off! INVEST IN THE STOCK!
3. If your cookie sheets or baking stones have been used for GF cooking the past, then there are probably discolorations or places where an SOS pad has been used to remove part of the pan to get it clean. This leads to uneven baking. But with the silicone mat, it evenly disperses the heat.

cool, huh?
Just don't put in the dishwasher. BIG NO NO!

Now, what is silicone?

(get your nylons out, ladies)

Silicone is a plastic polymer with a silicon base. Silicon is an element; specifically, a transition metal element, which means it has near magic properties, and which is why it is used in such magical devices as computer chips and whatnot. A polymer is a large string of subunits- think of a pearl necklace.


A pearl necklace, if it was a chemical solution, would be a polymer. All the individual pearls are the subunits. This is a good thing to imagine with a silicone polymer, except that in a silicone polymer, there are other elements, like other beads, that are between the silicon. Nylon thread is a different type of polymer. So are polyesters (notice the "poly", esters are a specific chemical compound).

If you want more info- take a chemistry course ;)

What's important to know is that you need to get a separate polymer mat (or polymer utensils) for gluten and gluten free cooking because the gluten molecules will be able to stick better to plastic than to metal (it's electric charges, it's why sugar jumps off of some plastic and on to others...it's chemistry!)

anyway, the stuff is great- love it, A!

BTW, A has requested scones for our monthly brunch, so I'll be whipping up a batch of those...and I just might share the recipe.


Enjoy your GF goodies!
The Irish Lass