Apples to Apples

Autumn is officially with us, even if the weather hasn't exactly gotten the memo. And autumn is the perfect season for apples. They fall in abundance, with a flavor for every taste preference. Sweet reds to the tart greens and plenty mixed in between. They can be applied to a wide range of cooking ventures, though baking is my favorite: baked in pies, baked in muffins, baked with. . .jasmine rice? Yes, that's right, jasmine rice. Not the usual complement to apples, but the idea struck me while reading another recipe that called for serving quinoa and wild rice with apples. Preferring generally sweet tastes, I decided to alter the recipe a bit (somebody I'll learn to follow a recipe, but, well, I don't think it's going to be an easy lesson for me to learn).
I took two apples and sliced off the top just below the stem. I cleared out the core, leaving a little apple-bowl, the inside of which I coated with a light dusting of brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. I filled the "bowl" with jasmine rice I'd already cooked (boiled for 2-3 minutes and then turned to low and left to sit for 20-30 min till all nice, light, and fluffy) and topped that with more cinnamon and a drizzle of honey. These I cooked for 40 minutes at 350.
I worried a bit that perhaps I might have gone a little overboard with the sweetness, but what came out of the oven after 40 minutes was a delicate, subtle pleasure. It was sweet, to be sure, but not in a blunt, candied sense. The slightly acidic nature of the apples, with their heat softened skin and flesh, balanced out the pure sugary sweetness of the honey, which matched the spicier sweet of the spices exactly as I'd hoped. It was exactly what I was aiming for when I'd put the recipe together, though I have a few thoughts on improving the recipe yet further. I might add in a citrus-y hint, with orange or lemon, or perhaps a ginger-y bite with some freshly grated ginger and onions. I felt that, as delicious as it was, it would have been better with a more blatant juxtaposition to the sweetness. And I might experiment with other apple varieties (I used macintosh this time), since autumn will certainly provide me with ample specimens.
A second apple-related cooking venture from this afternoon was apple-cinnamon muffins (really, I need to let the cinnamon rest once in a while. I think I might have a cinnamon problem. . .). Seeing that a few of my apples were in danger of going bad, I decided to put them in some form of baked good (and isn't it wonderful that the universe has provided us this option for using excess fruit?). I settled on muffins, having already made a quick bread this week. And cinnamon is the perfect apple complement (apple pie, anyone?). I used a basic muffin recipe (2 eggs, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 3 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup vegetable oil flour, 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, cinnamon [some. . .and then some more], nutmeg [a bit]), tossed into the oven for 20 minutes at 350. After they were properly baked, I coated the tops with a bit of melted butter and a light dusting of brown sugar. Result? Delicious. The perfect autumn snack, especially when paired with green tea or coffee.
All in all, it was a good day for cooking and I'm satisfied with my kitchen creations.