Maple Scotch Glazed Apples

This will be the last of the cooking posts this week.  The Partner's Gram turns 90 and celebrations are planned for the weekend with family jetting and driving to Michigan from all over the country.

So while we're away celebrating Gram this weekend, I'd love to hear back from readers.  Recently, D. mentioned that he looked forward to my making him a featured bev.  I remarked that I'd hoped readers were trying things out for themselves.  So jumping in to Web 2.0, I'm putting a call out for a little interactivity.  

Your assignment: This weekend, try out a recipe or two or three from the blog.  Cocktail or cooking, doesn't matter.  Then leave comments on the post (or posts) you tried.  Leave them in Comments on the blog post so we can all participate.  Some of you have been subscribing and commenting via email, which I love.  But I'm the only one who sees those.  Then we'll all discuss.  (Once a teacher, always a teacher!  :-)

Ok, on to today's post.

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A bit mono-chromatic, but tasty!

A decidedly fall dish, dinner last night consisted of pork chops, cabbage slaw & apples.  Tonight both the pork and the apples got the treatment.  For the pork I used the somewhat Asian flavored marinade featured in the very first Cookin' with Booze post.  Here's the card for the apples:

Maple & Scotch Glazed Apples*
2 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 oz. scotch
1 oz. butter
fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Toss them with the juice of half a lemon to keep them from browning.  In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the syrup to a low simmer, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the scotch.  Stir it into the syrup and place back on the heat.  Simmer until it reduces slightly.  Add the butter and stir constantly until it is completely melted and the sauce begins to thicken.  Take half a lemon and give it a gentle squeeze.  You're not going to want all the juice because you've already put some on the apples.  Just a couple drops to brighten up the flavor.  Salt and pepper to taste -- again, just to balance flavors.  Add the apples to the pan and gently stir to glaze them with the sauce.

This will keep warm over a low/simmering heat until ready to serve.

Serves 2

*: A nice variation on this would be to add a 1/4 t. of cinnamon, nutmeg, or 1/8 t. clove, or allspice to these.  I did not, however, as it would not have gone with the pork marinade or what I did with the cabbage.