Though my holiday baking this year left a little to be desired both in quality and quantity, one of the best parts of it was using my Silpats. I have been drooling over these for years and finally decided they were worth the expense.
Silpats are silicone covered woven fiberglass fabric that are able to transmit heat, but also create a non-stick surface similar to coated baking parchment paper. Almost nothing sticks, and cleaning them is a breeze.
One of my failures this year was my Palmiers, which just didn't taste the way I like them. It is something I will continue to work through this year, and see if I can figure out where I went wrong. But baking them presented the same problem it always does. The sugars melt out of the cookies, and caramelize on the pans. Left on unlined pans, it is extremely difficult to remove, and Mom's sheets were always thickly coated as a result, which ultimately destroys the sheet pans.
I've used parchment paper in the past, and it works well enough, but I really dislike the idea of using disposable things when I can help it. Silpats resolve that problem. They sell different sizes for different pans. And you just lay them in the bottom, and bake as usual. The only caveats for using them is that you can't cut on them or do anything to damage the silicone because it will release the glass fibers into your baked goods. But they rinse off pretty easily, and even the sticky caramel from my Palmiers popped right off.
I'd highly recommend them and say they are totally worth the investment. They don't seem to affect baking in any way, and I don't feel like I'm having to continually buy products to get the performance I want. If you've been on the fence, go for it. If you don't know about them, hit up your kitchen store and check them out!