glazed carrots

I was looking for a side dish to bring to my sister's house for Christmas, and had a ton of carrots in my fridge, so I decided to make this recipe.  I also wanted something a little different; I get tired of the same old holiday food.  (My family isn't overly adventurous in the food arena, so we don't typically deviate much from the standard holiday foods. I remember one year I made homemade cranberry sauce--we are strictly a canned, jellied cranberry sauce family-- and no one touched it, except my mother.  I'm not sure if she was just being supportive or if she really liked it, but I'm happy someone tried it. )

I Googled "glazed carrots" and I got many, many hits.  I found one that calls for whiskey, some with honey, some with orange juice or maple syrup, some with brown sugar only or white sugar only or some combination thereof, etc.  The Internet is great, but it can often be overwhelming to have so many choices and different variations of the same dish. I settled on this recipe from BakeSpace, which is pretty simple and doesn't call for any special ingredients other than fresh lemon juice.  (To me, a "special ingredient" is one I wouldn't typically have on hand, like lemons.  Other people might keep lemons on hand, but I don't.)

I found this recipe to be easy, but it was a little tricky to judge when the liquid was reduced enough before adding the lemon juice.  It wasn't difficult by any means.  I just wasn't sure what the right consistency should be.  But that will come with practice.  And, really, there's no way to ruin this dish unless you burn the sauce or way overcook the carrots.

I really enjoyed the end product.  The carrots were tender and sweet, but not overly so, and I could taste a small hint of the lemon juice. 

I made this for my in-laws last weekend, and the cause came out even better.  I plan to make this again next weekend.

The only change I made to the recipe was that I used pre-cut baby carrots.  I already had them on hand. Recipe below.

Perfect Glazed Carrots 

(Recipe found here:  Perfect Glazed Carrots, which is originally from Cooks Illustrated magazine)

Ingredients

1 lb carrots (about 6 medium), peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal (I used pre-cut baby carrots)

1/2 tsp salt

3 TB sugar

1/2 cup chicken broth 

1 TB unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces (I think salted would be fine)

2 tsp lemon juice (I used fresh)

Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring carrots, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and chicken broth to boil, covered in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are almost tender when poked with tip of paring knife, about 5 minutes.
2. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer rapidly, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to skillet, toss carrots to coat and cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are completely tender and glaze is light gold, about 3 minutes.
4. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Transfer carrots to serving dish, scraping glaze from pan. Season to taste with pepper and serve immediately.