Maple Roast Turkey

I used this recipe this year for my first Thanksgiving dinner ever. As you can imagine, I was pretty nervous! The turkey turned out wonderfully. I do have a few pointers for any novices out there like me - definitely make the Maple herb butter the night before to make the next day that much easier, "marjoram" is a plant and I went to the grocery store and found it in the spices and used that (it worked great). Also, when you first place the turkey in the oven on 375 for 30 minutes, make sure to keep an eye on it. The baste cooked very quickly on top of the skin and burnt, I just wasn't paying attention. It didn't matter at all since you cut the skin off before you serve it anyway, but if you are concerned about presentation then keep an eye on it. I do HIGHLY recommend using the gravy recipe included, the flavor was incredible and tastes great on the leftover sandwiches as a spread!! The entire process was pretty simple and easy to follow, and the end result was that I may be doing Thanksgiving for everyone for the rest of my life!!! Thanks so much, Lipo!

We made this yesterday and received a lot of compliments. It was fairly simple to prepare and the house smelled wonderful. The butter took longer to make than I estimated; I'm glad we made it in advance as suggested. I prepared half the gravy with the brandy and half without... everyone preferred the gravy without the brandy. The brandy was the most expensive part of the meal ($29.00 for a pint) and the most difficult ingredient to locate. If we make this again, we will not use the brandy.

I am roasting with this recipe as I type this, the bird just went in the oven. One note: The two cups of broth are not listed in the ingredient list. It jumped up and bit me in the butt when I reached that part of the process! I luckily had a can in the pantry. Now we sit, and baste and wait!

This is the one recipe I always come back to, no matter what else I find.

Be very generous with the amount of marinade you put under the skin. I carefully put some under the skin on the legs with a baster as well. We basted every 30 minutes. Could not find apple brandy, but additional apple cider worked. Don't forget to brine the turkey for a much more moist result.

This was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner! The gravy that is made from the Maple Butter is wonderful and the turkey was not dry at all. Was very moist and delicious. I used the Oven Bag as suggested by one reviewer but still had to cover the turkey with foil after about 2 hours of cooking. The vegetables went into my turkey soup the next day. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks, Christine for sharing this wonderful recipe with everyone!

I made this turkey for Thansgiving - it wasn't very good! I followed the directions - I even marinated the turkey overnight. The meat was FLAVORLESS!! The skin browns extremely fast and was also pretty flavorless. The only saving grace were the vegetables which absorbed most of the maple & herb - and tasted great. I've found that you need to put SOMETHING inside the turkey for the meat to have ANY sort of flavor. Perhaps if you stuff the turkey with carrots, celery and onion, in addition to having it on the side - there would be more flavor. I won't be making this turkey again.

It is now Thanksgiving 2014 and I am still making this recipe. I make it every year. I have it down now to where I make the butter on the weekend and dress the Turkey on Monday night and let it marinate. DELICIOUS!!! Everyone loves it!! I made this recipe for the first time in 2001. It was delicious then and requested every year since!! This turkey is always a hit and leftovers make fabulous turkey soup..very flavorful! I usually vary the herbs a bit(fresh sage, tarragon, oregano, parsley, thyme and a little cilantro).One of the things I love is that while the reduction is reducing, I can prep the other foods on the menu. I usually make it accompanied by Green beans with crimini mushrooms and shallots recipe I got from food and wine Thanksgiving 2001 and cranberry sauce. This year I tried Killer Cranberry sauce I found on A/R. What a meal!!! Also...McCormick and Schmick's deep dish apple pie recipe is amazing!!! Happy Eating!!

I scaled this recipe down for a brined turkey breast and made the maple butter as directed, using all of the mixture at once. Basted often and after 1.5 hours at 350, the turkey was perfect. I didn't make the gravy as stated; instead I took the easy route and just added the pan juices to a dry gravy mix. By doing so, the gravy wasn't too sweet, but a hint of maple could be detected and the fresh thyme was a nice change from the more traditional sage -- very good over mashed potatoes. Since this was a successful test run, I'll try this method on a larger gobble next time. Thanks!

I made the butter ahead of time, and could only find dried marjoram, but the butter came out fine. I used all of the maple butter throughout the cooking time and reserved none for gravy (too many people before have said it was too sweet). The turkey was moist and the skin was crispy. It is a wonderful recipe.

This is a good recipe. I'm grading it fairly tough though. I was dissapointed in the gravy flavor...much sweeter than I was expecting. Overall, the flavor did not soak in like it has with my other recipes.To me this is not for the traditional Thanksgiving feast, but any other time a unique recipe worth trying for a turkey meal.

I'm assuming this is the same recipe I got out of the Allrecipes Cookbook, although the submission names are different. Anyway, it was FABULOUS! I just made it last night with a turkey from Christmas that I thought I'd better use. This is the first time I've cooked a turkey in years- and this recipe seems pretty foolproof as I had to make quite a few changes. First off , read the directions all the way through- which of course I did not and found myself making the butter while I preheated the oven. Besides using plain apple juice, Aunt Jemima syrup and Herbs de Provence instead of the fresh herbs called for, as these were what I had on hand , and then putting the mixture in the freezer to hasten the hardening process as I had only 31/2 hours til dinnertime. After 30 min., the butter was somewhat hardened, so I proceeded with preparing the turkey- roasted it for the desired amount of time.( didn't add the vegetables to the pan, but added the chicken broth) The house smelled wonderful while it cooked. The turkey came out gorgeous and so tender and moist! And the gravy was great- a nice change from plain turkey gravy. I loved it, my family loved it- and it was such a forgiving recipe that it still turned out great despite all of my screw ups. I can only imagine how great this would be if you followed the directions properly and used all of the correct ingredients, I will definantly be making this again. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe!

I made the Turkey for Thanksgiving for the very first time, this year. I was a little nervous, cause I never cook anyway, but this recipe was so much fun to make! And it came out wonderful. My husband said it was better than his mothers, his mom said it was better than my brother-in-laws (he is a great cook) and everyone else said it was the best turkey they had ever had. It came out very moist and full of flavor. Everyone should try this recipe!

This will be the 4th year we have used this recipe. The best gravy EVER!!!

This was my first thanksgiving and I was so nervous to make dinner but this was better than the turkey my mom makes! I rubbed the marinade under the skin and all over the night before so it had time to soak in, then I followed the instructions exactly as written, just increasing cooking time since I had a larger bird. It came out perfect, just simply amazing! The gravy it made was also delicious!

I made this for Christmas and it turned out to be the best dish on the table. It's juicy, tender and unbelievable. I couldn't take credit for it because no one would believe if I told them it was my recipe. I applied the maple butter on the bird, wrapped in roasting bag with all the other stuff overnight before roasting.

This will be the 4th time we made this turkey, its a HUGE hit with my family every time!!!!!!!! I will be adding potatoes to the vegetables this year, and ommiting the Brandy from the gravy though. :-)

This turkey is simply magnificent. I served it with the Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing and created a terrific feast.

This is by far the best turkey and gravy I've ever made, and probably the best I've ever tasted. Made it this past Thanksgiving and everybody loved it.

Loved it. Going to make it again. The gravy was the best.

I made it this year, and it was BY FAR the best one yet.. I have been asked to make it again for Christmas!

Thanks for helping with my successful Thanksgiving! My husband doesn't typically like turkey so I wanted to try something different to see if I could get him to eat it. I made the maple butter the evening before - be sure to allow time for the syrup/cider to cook down. That helped greatly. Also used dried thyme and marjoram, just converted tablespoons to teaspoons. Turkey was super moist and had a great flavor. Husband was impressed. He has not changed his ways and become a turkey lover - but he did enjoy it for Thanksgiving - and I'm still enjoying it immensly. Vegetables cooked with turkey and gravy were also very tasty.

This was great.I also poured about 1 cup apple cider in the pan and used it for basting.

The compound butter is very good, so it gets 4 stars for that part. I didn't have marjoram and subbed with fresh parsley, and I did not use the lemon peel. I used a turkey breast and while it was very moist, I didn't think the butter flavor came through at all except in the skin, which I don't like, unfortunately. I'll definitely keep the recipe for the butter, but I think I'll find other uses for it.

I made this in my crock pot. My boyfriend loved it.

This is FABULOUS!!! I can't keep myself from the kitchen to grab "just another bite". The gravy is "to die for". This is a keeper and a recipe I'll pass down to my daughter ( but do I have to confess that it's not one of my own?). Thanks for sharing.

The turkey tastes great! It's obviously not a quick recipe, because turkey takes forever to cook, but it's easy to make and very tasty.

I just made this turkey today (Thanksgiving, 11/27/03) and it was so flavorful and delicious! I like to cook my turkey for a good long time to make sure that there's no danger of bacteria, and because I like a good brown bird. Usually, when you cook a turkey for a long time, the breast really gets dry - but not with this recipe! It was honestly the most tender turkey I have ever had. The maple compound butter was so unbelievably wonderful - not just to eat, but the aroma's from the fresh marjoram and fresh thyme makes you want to put a little behind your ear! Excellent recipe!

My husband made this turkey for Thanksgiving and it was the best turkey we have ever had!!! It was so tender and juicy we couldn't believe it!!! We did not make the gravy, but will do so next year for sure. This would be excellant for roasted chicken, too. Thank you so much for our new family turkey tradition!!!

Moist and wonderful turkey, and the left over maple herb butter isn't at all necessary for exquisite gravy. This has now been THE Thanksgiving turkey on BOTH sides of my family for 3 years and counting...

This was my first holiday bird and it turned out GREAT!! I substituted orange zest for the lemon because I was afraid my traditionally-minded in-laws would freak. The resulting broth after roasting was so flavorful that I had a hard time not slurping it all before making a gravy. Again deferring to the in-laws, I used regular butter to make the gravy with the broth, reserving the maple/citrus/spice infused butter for dinner where we used it on our rolls. My family FLIPPED. The turkey was moist and flavorful, the gravy was delectable, and the butter and rolls were like dessert. I will make this recipe again and again.

THIS IS HANDS DOWN, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, THE ABSOLUTE BEST TURKEY I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! I am usually not into the typical "Thanksgiving" turkey, but this recipe sounded tempting, so I gave it a try. Not only is it relatively simple to make, but the end result is phenomenal! This turkey is juicy, flavorful, and so addictive! You just can't stop eating it! I have never left a review of a recipe on this site before, but I just had to after making this recipe. Trust me, it is the best!

Great recipe.

To be honest I don't know what I did, but it turned out perfect...the juciest turkey my family has ever had (and we normally do pretty good). Anyway, it was delish!

Terrific!!! I've made this recipe for 3 years now - every Christmas! Everyone loves it and the gravy is delicious! I make extra Maple Butter as our family really loves a ton of gravy and we do like the extra maple flavor... I have used different herbs under the skin and whatever kind I use - it always turns out great. The turkey is moist - but I believe you really need to purchase a good turkey to start with - you get what you pay for! Try it - it's delicious!

Good recipe - the gravy was a little too sweet for my family but other than that, don't expect too much of a maple-ish flavour although this makes the turkey very moist and wonderful.

MMMMMMMMMMM. This turned out sooooooo delicious, I will now make it every year, may make it again for Christmas. I added alot more onions, celery and carrots to the pan then called for. Also added green onions, and reserved dome of the vegetables to stuff in the turkey. I sliced up the rest of my lemon and added it to the pan also and stuck a slice on the turkey. Next time I make it i will add the lemon zest to the butter mixture after I put aside some butter mixture for the gravy. The gravy turned out great, but would have been better without the lemon flavor.

I prepared this turkey but did not add the chicken broth... it caramelizes very well with apple cider and maple syrup reduction. It turned out very juicy and nice and golden glaze.

Best turkey we have ever had I cooked it in a roaster and by the time it was done it was falling off the bone

So I had to make my first Thanksgiving Turkey for the in-laws... Now thanks to this recipe I have the full time gig. I guess that is good for the recipe. This recipe wasn't difficult but it takes time, I still give it a 5 Star for flavor!

Years ago I used this recipe for the first turkey I ever cooked and it came out beautifully! In the years since, I have made slight alterations like apple juice instead of apple cider and I use it as a brine. Every year it is a HUGE hit with the family and now I am the designated cook for Thanksgiving. I highly recommend this recipe! It's delicious as is and can be tailored to suit your particular tastes. Bravo!

This recipe was delicious! I used it with the Turkey Brine recipe on this site. I brined the turkey over night. Then used this recipe to bake. The only thing that I did notice if brined. It cookes faster. You really have to watch the turkey if you cook at 500 degrees in the beginning. The butter browns fast... I set the gizzards etc. aside and made a seperate gravy with chicken stock because I'm not a big fan of sweet gravy. The turkey was soooo tender and juicy. It literally was the best turkey I've ever made. Thank you for sharing

The butter in this recipe is DIVINE. I loved the taste of the lemon, which blended so perfectly with the marjoram. I placed my turkey in a maple brine 24 hours prior to roasting, and the roasted the turkey upside down until the last hour. Juices just poured out when I finally got to cut into our masterpiece. Thank you so much for this recipe, I think it will be used for many holidays to come.

Don't bother. I made this for Thanksgiving, and my family's comments were "you're not going to do something funny with the Turkey again, are you?" It was definately NOT a winner in my house.

This recipe was more time consuming then the usual way I make my turkey but it was sooo worth it. I made it for Christmas dinner and everyone raved. Thank you.

Absolutely DIVINE!

Great! This recipe is listed 3 times but is mostly the same except this one calls for more butter mixture and flour in the gravy. The turkey was moist and the gravy is slightly sweet. This was only my 2nd turkey and I received many compliments. Make this with the cranberry, sausage and apple stuffing and you can't go wrong- trust me! I don't think I would be a good cook without these recipes/this website! thanks!

This turkey turned out fairly well for my first turkey. It was definately the most tender turkey I have ever eaten. One of my relatives who loves turkey said it had a great flavor; However, to me it was still bland turkey. The gravy had quite a different flavor, but was very good.

My first turkey and it was a HIT!! The turkey was so tender with a hint of sweetness, and the gravy was scrumptious. Thumbs up from all!

I used this recipe for my first turkey ever and it turned out very moist and not as sweet as I had feared. I would not make the gravy again as it was a little too sweet and quite odd with the mashed potatos and other dishes, but I will make this turkey for Christmas.

This has become a family tradition! Thanks so much for this recipe!!

There are a couple other recipes that are exactly like this one except a few small variances. I chose to go by this recipe since my turkey was closer to a 12 pounder. I have to first off say that this was my first time making a turkey. Between the flavorful marinade in this recipe, brining the turkey, and the way I cooked it (breast side down and no foil), this was the most moist and flavorful turkey I have ever eaten anywhere! I pretty much went by the ingredients exactly except I didn't use brandy and I only had margarine instead of butter. Next time I will make sure to use butter because the sauce didn't set up to well and was a little liquid-y, so when rubbing on the turkey it wanted to drip off. I also made a solution of apple cider and maple syrup, boiled it down, and used a flavor injector to inject a little more flavor into the meat. I dont think it was really necessary but I thought what the hay, more flavor is always good! Next time I wont do that though, because between that and the butter mixture, the gravy was a little sweeter than it should of been. But it was still excellent! Thanks for this great flavorful recipe! When I have the chance at making a turkey again I will for sure use this recipe!

This is the second year I have used this recipe for Thankgiving. It is awesome! It is almost impossible to goof up, at least I have not been able to even if I forgot something or did it wrong. It still comes out YUMMY! I have used Apple Cider both years and I too have a liguid under the butter. I just use the apple butter as directed and then use some of the juice too. I baste often and have always had enough pan juices for gravy and never need to add more broth. The gravy is wonderful. I'm going to try this on a whole chicken too. Thank you for this recipe! *** I want to add. I am making this recipe again this year, my original review was in 2002. Last night I made my maple butter. I let it cook and reduce for over an hour. This morning it is all solid butter. I think the key is in the time you allow the cider/syrup mixture cook. I don't think I'll be using the Apple Brandy this year.

This was my 1st Thanksgiving turkey and it turned out wonderful! It was so juicy and had a wonderful flavor. I didn't have any marjoram so i used sage and i also didn't have any apple cider, just added 1C of water and a Tbs. of brown sugar, worked great! Thanks for making my 1st Thanksgiving a success!

I've made this two years in a row to outstanding reviews. I also rub the outside with crushed coriander and it adds something extra special. The gravy made from the juices has such a nice sweetness. I actually used Williams Sonoma's starter and just added the drippings this year and it was wonderful.

LDMAC1

This has great flavor, and the gravy is wonderful!

This was a great tasting turkey. I wasn't into the gravy that came out of it though. I like sweet tasting entree's but I felt that the gravy was TOO sweet for a turkey gravy. (especially if you have cranberry sauce too) Great recipe though.

Very moist and had a unique sweet taste.

Delicious results! We made the butter a day early and doubled the maple syrup because we like sweet. I feel the cooking time is a little long so we are going to use an internal thermometer next year. Skin on the turkey gets dark fast so keep an eye on it. Skip the apple brandy - not necessary. We filled the cavity of the bird with apples and onions and the gravy turned out sooooo good.

I have made this turkey exactly as written for several years. Everyone loves it except my older sister, but she always finds something to complain about. The butter takes a long time to prepare so do it a couple days prior. The gravy will be sweet so make an traditional grave too for your picky older sisters who think they are better at everything. Also, Apple Brandy may not be as easy to find as you may think so shop for that early. Finally, use real maple syrup even if your sister insists that Mrs Butterworths is the same thing because it all tastes the same. No it doesn't Barbara!!!

this recipes was fantastic--I was a big hit at Thanksgiving and everyone loved the turkey--it was moist and very flavorful and the gravy was the best!! This is a must have recipe!!!!!

I made my first turkey followed the recipe to a T, it was good but not enough.. The second I doubled everything except the apple cider (3 cups instead of two) and for the fresh thyme and marjoram put half in the bird and sprinkle half all around it, I used a whole lemon all the skin and squeezed it too :) I also buttered my bird a lot lol if you lift the skin on the top, the breast(without ripping, because you have to pull it back over) stuff and rub butter inside under the skin (real butter) wow so tender n juicy and dont forget baste your turkey every 20 min!! set a timer, pain in the butt but well worth it in the end. also I found it is unnecessary to roast for 30 min before you cover.. do that at the end ( uncovered turkey needs basting every 10 min) Do not over cook, follow instruction on turkey weight=time and and check internal temp. I had a lot of complements, I also made the gravy, I myself didn't like it but my guests did.

Than You for sharing this recipe. This was the first year I made Thanksgiving Dinner by myself. Everyone enjoyed the Turkey even my husband who hates turkey because it's always "dry". I really loved the flavor of the veggies. I even used the juice from the turkey to make my stuffing. The best stuffing I have ever had!!!!

Great recipe....my husband used this recipe to make his very first Thanksgiving turkey and it was fantastic!

Thanksgiving '04 was my first time cooking for our entire family. This recipe was not only easy for a first timer it was so delicious it had the entire family wanting the recipe. I am cooking again this year in a different state for different family members and of course we are using this recipe! THE BEST

I'm sorry, I can only give this recipe 2 stars. My family likes the traditional taste of a roasted turkey. This turkey had too much of a lemon taste, the skin blackened quickly and was not crisp ( crispy skin a big hit in my family ) the only reason I gave this 2 stars is because the meat itself was very juicy and tender, but like I said, too much of a lemon flavour! I will stick to my family recipe and not use this again! SORRY !

The turkey did come out wonderful. Very moist. I am changing my review to give this 4 stars,because of the turkey ONLY. But the gravy was very, very, sweet. I had 2 pkgs of McCormick turkey gravy on hand that I made and added to it, and still very sweet. So I added some white wine to it. That did take some of the sweetness away, but still left it very sweet. If I do make this turkey recipe again, which I probably will. I would not use the drippings for the gravy. I would use store bought or make some ahead of time.

This recipe was fantastic! This was my first Thanksgiving dinner and it went great! I recommend making the maple butter the night before, since I think the gravy tasted much better the next day after it had time to sit. I also recommend adding the brandy to a small sample of the gravy before adding, since you may not like it. I used dry marjoram which substituted well for the fresh. This will be a recipe in my permanent collection.

excellent gravy. I didn't reserve any of the butter mixture and didn't add any brandy, thought it would be too sweet. cooked it using the oven bags and didn't add any chicken broth around it. made it twice first time using apple cider and the second apple juice and no difference. my only complaint would be that the turkey gets way too brown and it's not as moist as suggested, but an overall excellent taste. oh., also sprinkled sage and garlic powder on the turkey the second time and that gave it some more flavor.

Did Christmas one year, now I got it every year. The white meat is as moist as the dark meat.

The turkey came out well and was not too dry or too moist. I thought the carrots, celery, and onions were great when mixed with stuffing. Unfortunately, a lot of the flavors get lost in the meat. The only thing that really comes through is the thyme, which gives a good typical holiday flavor if that is what your are looking for. I was personally hoping to taste more of the apple though.

This turkey had a very good flavor and stayed moist. I tried to cut the recipe in half by using a 6 lb turkey breast, thinking it would take less time to bake, but is still took the whole baking time to get it to temperature.

The turkey came out so juicy and full of flavor.

I have made this the last 2 Thanksgivings in a row and always get rave reviews for it.We almost never have left overs

Delicious recipe. Mine took a bit longer to reach the proper temperature, but was worth the wait. This is the second year in a row I have made this recipe with tasty results. The flavor of the butter really makes this recipe special.

This was my first time cooking a turkey and I couldn't believe the results! My husband LOVED it! I couldn't believe that after cooking this turkey, it turned out tasting like something my mother would make; I was very impressed. The meat on the turkey turned out very tender and the gravy was sweet and delicious. I will definitely use this recipe again next year!

Very moist, excellent flavor. My family loved it. Will make again.

This is an excellent recipe. We've used this recipe now for 4 years since we first discovered it here on Allrecipes.com!

I cooked Thanksgiving this year for my very first time and my mom said it was the best turkey she's ever had and she WAS a firm believer in cooking bags until today. I didn't have the apple brandy so I just did without it. I cannot believe how moist it was!!! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!!!!!

didn't make the turkey taste too different but the gravy was great and the house smelled wonderful because of it

Nothing to write home about.

Very good but meat needs more flavor. If I do it again I would inject the maple butter prior to cooking.

Smelled so Good! Tasted so Good! The gravy is really good too! But this is exotic! It's not your cafeteria brown gravy, and some more traditional taste buds might object to the spices. But I loved it!

Just tried this for Christmas Dinner, It turned out wonderful :) It came out with that carmel glazed look just like ones you would see in a movie. Thanks!!!

Instead of butter used margarine and did not have fresh spices except one. Turkey was bland and dressing was tasty but for some reason the flavors did not mix together in a synergistic way.

This turkey was just wonderful. It was so moist and the flavor couldn't have been better. The whole family enjoyed it. I didn't use the leftover butter for gravy. Instead, I used all the butter on the bird and made my own gravy from what was in the pan. I wasn't sure that the sweet gravy would go well with mashed potatoes and stuffing. I will make this again next year, but I think I will inject the butter into the turkey prior to cooking. Thank you so much!!

Excellent; only thing left were the bones. Best turkey I have ever tasted!

This will be my only Thanksgiving turkey recipe from now on.

AMAZING! I have made this several times, and each time I get rave reviews! Thanks so much for the great recipe and clear directions.

Great recipes, very easy with pro results. The gravy went over well.Will use it again

I used a utility turkey. It looked beautiful and the meat was very juicy.

My family loved it. It was so good that there wasn't any left overs. My mom asked for the recipe and wants it ever thanksgiving.

This turkey came out awesome! This was the 1st turkey I have ever cooked and I really appreciated all the other reviews, which were very helpful. My family said they thought it was probably the best turkey they've ever had! It was very juicy! I used fresh thyme, but used marjoram in the spice section and just a teaspoon. I actually ended up using the whole portion of thyme in the butter mixture (make the night before) because I forgot to divide it. It came out great though. My turkey did not burn or actually brown a whole lot during the 1st 30 minutes at 375, but I did tent it for the reminder of the time at 350 and it came out beautifully. I was very impressed! I did reserve 1/4 cup for the gravy, but still didn't use the entire butter mixture when I brushed it all over the turkey. I let the turkey cook for about 20 minutes, then took it out again and brushed the remainder all over. The gravy was good, but it didn't thicken for me as I would have liked, but I had about 3 1/2 cups of stock vs the 3 cups in the recipe. It was very good though and thickened over time. This will be my staple recipe very year I cook a turkey!

I guess even I couldn't screw this recipe up! Using apple cider seemed to work fine - my first Thanksgiving turkey was a huge success! It was totally awesome! and the gravy was SO delicious! I will be using this again for sure! Thank you thank you thank you!

turkey was great... they weren't 100% sure they liked the gravy... they didn't like the sweetness of it. I thought it was awesome myself...

This was my first time making this. I used a 20lbs turkey (8 of my boys came home from Afghanistan unannounced) I doubled the recipe and it worked really well! I made the maple butter the night before and it seemed to work out better. I basted the turkey every 30 minutes and it was so juicy!!! The cook time seems short but it was perfect!! The only thing I found was that I did not need the entire amount of flour for the gravy.

I didn't enjoy the sweetness with my turkey. But my family did.

FANTASTIC RECIPE! First time I made it for Thanksgiving, and everyone loved it - even the guests that are not fond of turkey thought it was great. It turned out so tender with a hint of sweetness. I have been elected as the annual turkey roaster!