Cookie Science: Silicone Mats vs. Parchment Paper

[Music]so this is a batch of the thin andcrispy chocolate chip cookie doughsame batch same oven same halfsheet pan the only difference is i linedthis tray with parchmentand this tray with silicone you may havenoticed that 100 of my cookie recipesspecifically call for a parchment-linedbaking sheetthis is why with parchment the cookiesspreadas they should which is not too muchwith silicone they spread a lotphysically siliconeis more slippery so the dough is able tospreadmore and faster as it bakes this causesit to brown more because it’s a thinneramount of dough that’s able to cookthroughfaster here’s the same results with myhomemade loft house cookie stylesugar cookies with the parchment theystay nice thick and cakey which is whatthe cookie is supposed to beand on the silicone they spread out morebecoming thinner and a little bit morepancakey i mean look at thisthis is a thick puffy cakey cookie of mydreamsand this is a sad flat pancake so if ibreak this one openthe cookie on top is baked on parchmentit’sultra thick super fluffy the cookie onthe bottomwas baked on silicone and it spread moreso it rose less giving it a densertighter crumbso this cookie it’s lightfluffy tender and soft very much like acakethat’s for our blooper reel huh this onethe one that was baked on silicona little bit dry and crunchy it spreadtoo fast it has more surface arealost more moisture as it baked bakedfasterbrowned more it’s dryother types of thick and chewy cookiesmay not show the sort of extremedifferencesay my snickerdoodle recipe for examplebut that doesn’t mean there isn’t goingto be a difference in how the texture onthe bottom turns out or whether thecookies are able tocool without sweating silicone is not asbreathable of a material so they oftenwill have a little bit of a damp qualityalong the bottomi’m not a fan you may be thinking thatthis is a groovy liquid cookie it’s kindof rippling around the edges and youlike what that’s all aboutthe real question is is the doughsupposed to do thatand if the dough isn’t supposed to dothat getting those kind of features isnot going to produce a desirable resultso in this case because the cookie didnot spread out too fastthis cookie has a really delicate chorusstructure so when you bite into it it’stender it’s crisp it’s delicate it’swonderfulwith these cookies because they spreadso fast they don’t rise as much whichmakes for a muchdenser less porous cookie i mean realtalk these cookies are grossthey’re dense they’re greasy they’rehard they’re notdelicate these have a nice shatteringjust tender crisp quality these are justhardthis is like if you’ve ever had badpeanut brittle that’s what these arei hate it um alsobecause parchment is absorbent andmoisture wickingit makes the cookies less greasy becausethe parchment actually absorbs some ofthat oilsilicone is less breathable thanparchment so the cookies kind of steamthemselves as they sit thereit’s like a sweaty environment it’s likewearing a lycra suita lot of it has to do with how thecookies are melting they’re being heatis being conducted differentlyand butter is melting out of the doughit’s not it’s not good you guysquick tip for some people thereusability of silicone is an alluringfactor but the truth is you can reuseparchment toojust wipe it down with a cloth and it’sready to go you can wipe it down severaltimesif it’s got a little chocolate stain youmight want to give it a slightbuff to get it off but this can be usedmany many more timesat my house i reuse parchment over andover again until it’s practicallyunrecognizablepeople don’t want to know that thoughsaving trees folks