I’ve never made them. Anyone have a simple recipe? Thanks!
Alton Brown on Food Network’s “Good Eats” uses a can of ginger ale. It’s got liquid to cook the carrots in and sugar to form a glaze on them. He added other stuff also. Here’s the recipe.
Well, mine aren’t glazed per se, they’re more of just in a thin, sweet sauce. It’s easy - you take your carrots, dump 'em in a bowl. Pour maple syrup over them, then thin that with some water. Nuke until they’re as cooked as you like them.
Last time I made these, I used one package of baby carrots, about half a container of maple syrup (the container was probably 12 oz or so, originally, so about 6 oz), maybe 1/2 cup to a cup of water, and nuked for about 6 or 7 minutes. The carrots were slightly softened, but were still nicely crisp. Was very good.
I’ve added butter to them, and it’s good, but if you refrigerate them later, the butter gets hard again and can look weird. Tastes fine, but looks weird - kinda scummy.
You could probably make it a glaze by using less (or no) water and thickening the syrup with the carrots in a pot, as in the Alton Brown method.
I steam my carrots and then just stir in some butter and honey.
I’m not too good with recipes, but…
Saucepan over medium heat. Melt some butter and brown sugar…you’ll feel your arteries dying as you make the glaze, but you’ll need more than you might think to coat all the carrots. When you’ve got it nice and bubbling, add in your carrots a handfull at a time (avoid splattering).
Toss the carrots around to coat, adding in more butter and sugar as needed to get enough glaze. Once they’re all in the pan and coated, reduce to low heat and just let them simmer uncovered, softening up and absorbing some of the glaze. Stir/toss frequently to make sure they’re cooking on both sides. Serve hot from the pan if possible.
It’s a very forgiving process, the only things that can go wrong is overcooking the carrots, or splattering yourself with molten sugar. Adding cinnamon, nutmeg and/or cardamom can take the sweetness down and flavor up a notch.
Okay…I did a little of everything: ginger ale, brown sugar, butter (no cinnamon, but I’m mulling that around). Thanks everyone! I think the family will love it!
I made this a couple week ago and it was simply spectaular. I highly recommend it, and don’t skip the chili power, it sounds odd but it’s perfect for the sauce. I used a brand of ginger ale that’s made with real ginger and pure cane sugar, not corn syrup like your mass produced brands. I think the real ginger and sugar make a sauce with the ideal flavor and consistency. Depending on the sugar content in the ginger ale, the only modification I’d consider is upping the sugar content with either honey or raw sugar if the ginger ale happens to be a little low on the sweetness scale.