There are certain kitchen tools that are just life-changing, plain and simple. While I have many that I love, one of my favorites are my silicone mats!

My mother-in-law first told me about these a few years ago- she loved using them when baking chocolate chip cookies because they act in place of parchment paper and keep your cookies from sticking to the pan! While this is certainly helpful, these nifty little mats can be really useful in many other ways as well! There's so many reasons you need at least one silicone mat!

*Homemade fruit roll ups. I've seen tutorials for these, and they always seem like a sticky mess! But you can easily take care of that by layering your pan with a silicone mat! Your fruit roll ups will easily slide right off!

*Effortlessly roll out pie dough. Game changer, for sure! No more flour covered counters and sticky messes! For particularly sticky doughs, you might want to add spray a little cooking oil, but that's usually an exception to the rule! This is especially great if you prefer a less floury tasting pastry and want to avoid adding any extra flour.

*Make a Swiss Roll Cake. You can easily roll your cakes into a beautiful swiss roll by just using a silicone mat to help you! Lay your cake on the mat, roll it up (mat included) and let it all cool while wrapped in a clean dish towel. Once it's cooled down you can gently unroll it, remove your mat and add the delicious cream filling!

*Help your children learn to cook. As seasoned cooks, knowing how many cookies to put on one cookie sheet isn't really a challenge- but for young children just learning, these mats can be incredibly helpful! Several mats come labeled with a diagram of where to place your cookies, which is really helpful when you have tiny hands in the kitchen who want to help make cookies! And let's be honest, as adults sometimes it's helpful to have a template, and you can find mats that not only have cookie templates, but pie crust templates as well!

*Fondant. Fondant can be great to work with- but also super messy! These mats provide the perfect base for your fondant projects!

*Roasting veggies and other savory dishes. Don't limit your thinking to desserts! These mats are great for any dish that you don't want sticking to the pan! Roasted potatoes are particularly good with their crispy browned bottoms, don't you think? With a mat, you no longer have to be sad when the delicious brown part sticks to the pan, and you don't have to use an excessive amount of oil to avoid this problem!

*Chocolate molds. Have you ever tried to pipe a decorative topping for a cake with chocolate or frosting? The silicone mat is the perfect base to keep your decorative piece from sticking to the counter! Since you can throw them in the freezer as well, you can help speed up the cooling process by throwing them in the freezer in the process!

*Dipping chocolate. Even if you're not making a tiny decorative mold, if you're making anything coated in chocolate, you'll want one of these mats! Chocolate covered strawberries, Oreo truffles- no more messy parchment paper messes!

*Get the perfect cookie. Not only do these mats prevent sticking, but they also help your cookies to bake more evenly, making for the perfectly browned, yet chewy, delicious cookie!

*Freeze anything! These mats are a great way to be able to stick anything in the freezer without it sticking to the pan! Cake balls, fresh fruit- you name it!

*Homemade pizza. Want the perfect crust without having to wash a pizza stone? Use a silicone mat!

*Fudge! Or anything else that you don't want sticking to the pan. Instead of trying to peel those small pieces of paper that will stubbornly not let go of your beloved treat, avoid the whole issue by using a silicone mat!

*Crafts! Who says a silicone mat has to be limited to edible uses? These mats make a great surface for any random craft project you may be doing! Melting candy to make fun shapes, using a glue gun, using acrylic paints- these mats provide a fantastic protection for your counters, and most messes will easily come right off! You can even make a cool stamp for your next nail design- check out this cool video to see how! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdNffiHT7AY

So many cool uses! What's your favorite way to use these nifty mats? Share with us below!