Maple Mustard Burgers

I have a new favorite burger recipe. These were so moist, with a great combination of sweet and tangy. Mrblocko grilled these up a few weeks ago when my mom was in town. She thought they tasted like sweet pickles, and Mrblocko agreed. I greatly dislike sweet pickles and I LOVED these burgers, so clearly they were both wrong.

The burgers looked and smelled scrumptious right off the grill. Naturally, I got so distracted with wanting to eat them, I forgot to take a picture. Trust me, they don't look all that different from a regular burger.

As for the changes I made: Go ahead and call the snobby cooking police again. I only had a heaping tablespoon of real maple syrup, so I used the fake stuff to make up the difference. The sugar content was still there to get caramelized and there was plenty of maple flavor. (Sometimes the fake syrup tastes more maple-y than the real thing.) The bottom line was the burgers were rockin awesome and that's all that matters. And I said it...check it out.

Also, Mrblocko did not follow the cooking times listed in the recipe. He cooked them about medium to medium-well. I think this was an accident on his part as he normally cooks burgers medium-rare to medium. Even though they were cooked more than usual, the burgers were still perfectly moist. Maybe the moisture content in the burger is such that they need to be cooked longer or they will fall apart?

Sadly, I don't have a clue where the recipe came from. I'd love to give credit where credit is due. When I first started scouring recipes from the Internet I was lax on website documentation. If this recipe looks familiar please let me know what website/book it originated from!

Maple Mustard Burgers
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Glaze:
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons spicy grainy mustard
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon orange zest (zest of about 1 orange)

In a medium size bowl, combine all ingredients for burger. Form into 4 patties. In medium bowl combine all glaze ingredients. Preheat grill to medium high heat. Brush burgers with prepared glaze. Place patties on grill for 7-8 minutes, basting every 2 minutes or until dark golden brown and slightly crisp on exterior. Flip burgers and continue to cook for another 7 minutes, basting every 2 minutes. This recipe is for well done, adjust time and temperature accordingly if you prefer a less well done burger.