I enjoy cooking (as you probably know by now if you have been reading my blog) but I don't enjoy cleaning up big cooking messes. I was reflecting recently on the number of items I have acquired over the years to help make clean-up in the kitchen easier.
I have several products that can be used to line baking pans.
There is this Silpat:
I have a whole package of these Teflon sheets that came in a variety of sizes for lining different pans:
Both the Silpat and the Teflon sheets are nice when you are baking cheesy things like Stromboili or Pizza Rolls which have a tendency to stick to a baking sheet.
Here are some silicone muffin tin liners (these are actually Rob's since he is the one who usually bakes muffins):
This is parchment paper. I recently read on the King Arthur website that it can be wiped off after use and then reused. This would be handy when baking cookies. I had previously been using a new sheet for each pan of cookies that I baked. They also stated that it will withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees.
My newest labor-saving product is this special release foil. I have found it to be very nice on top of cheesy casseroles when you don't want the cheese to stick to the foil. It's also good for tomato based casseroles that tend to discolor or pit the foil.
I am at the stage of life where I try to think twice about purchasing another kitchen tool or gadget, but some of these new products really do help to make life easier.
Do you have a favorite labor saving kitchen or cleaning tool?
Becka
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on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I’m curious as to how Rob “cleans” the silicone liners. I used mine once and spent way too much time cleaning them for another use. I think I would rather buy the paper ones and then just throw them away. By the way I love the parchment paper. I bake lots of cookies and granola and the parchment paper is perfect for both.
on Jul 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
My favorite-of-all-time, can’t-imagine-living-without-it clean-up gadget is the hypen! Just kidding. I love the Pampered Chef scrapers made for their baking stones. I get stuff off of my counters, baking pans and anything else, including my baking stone. (Of course, if I used your labor-saving devices, I guess I wouldn’t need it. . .) I don’t use muffin papers–I make muffins every Sunday and rarely have trouble cleaning my pans. I did make some sticky bun/biscuit/muffins the other day and was afraid I would have to throw my pan away! But we went to Denali for a few days, the pan soaked while we were gone, and it came right off!
) Vacation is a great thing.
on Jul 6th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Carrie, I love those little scrapers too. The muffin tin liners aren’t necessary for all types of muffins, but they are really nice for the sticky, gooey types. We have a recipe for a pecan sticky muffin that really sticks to the pans and the silicone liners are really great for those.