Silicone bakeware: A good idea?

So, you're standing at your favorite housewares store looking for a new muffin tin. Or should I say pan, because what you're seeing is rack after rack of colorful silicone bakeware. You pick one up, it feels weirdly rubbery and floppy and you wonder "do I really want to use this?" I have that problem every time I go to the store looking for new bakeware items. I have yet to test out the silicone (aside from spatulas and scrapers, both of which I love).

I have two problems with silicone bakeware. First is the floppiness. I think if I've got 12 muffins worth of batter and this fragile "tin" requires both hands and all of my attention getting it to and from the oven -- I see potential big kitchen mess here. A recent New York Times article reviews the pros and cons of silicone bakeware. One of the cons they mention are brownies and cakes cracking as they come out of the oven because the pans were not kept completely flat, they bended as they came out. To solve this you'd have to bake them on a cookie sheet (preferably NOT made of silicone), but then you have to adjust cooking times and worry about browning issues. Personally, it sounds like too much trouble -- no matter how ragged-looking my muffin tins get!

The second issue is that of safety. Although assumed safe, no real long-term studies have been done on whether the silicone can leach out at high temperatures. I regularly use silicone spatulas and scrapers because I'm not baking with those and they're not in contact long enough with food items to really leach anything out (I'd like to think that, anyway).

For now I'll keep using my regular bakeware and wait to see if silicone products are a fad or the next wave in cooking.

Original Source: http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/saltandpepper/silicone-bakeware-a--1448