Maple-Orange Glazed Chicken

I made this for dinner tonight- oh wow, it is up there with the new favorites!

1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
4 chicken breasts, halved crosswise

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk maple syrup, mustard, zest, vinegar and thyme in a bowl. Set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper

2. Heat oil in a large, oven safe skillet, over medium heat until just smoking. Cook chicken, until well browned, about 3-5 minutes. Turn chicken to other side and transfer skillet to the oven. Cook until chicken is deep golden brown and cooked through (about 10-15 min). Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil.

3. Wearing oven mitt (pan handle is VERY hot), pour off any fat in skillet and add maple mixture to empty pan and cook over medium heat, scrapping up any browned bits with wooden spoon, until thick and syrupy, about 3 minutes. Off heat, return chicken to skillet and turn until well coated with glaze.

This recipe actually calls for the chicken to be skin on, but that kind of grosses me out and so I just did normal Costco chicken breasts. If you use the skin on chicken, cook the skin down on the skillet first and then put skin up with in the oven. Enjoy!