Where Has All the Rum Gone?

I attend a campus church, so there are generally various activities, including fellowship events, that occur throughout the week. Usually, about once a semester,  we have a night where we hold an Iron Chef -style competition.  Contestants must use a required ingredient that is made known in advance, and they have approximately an hour to make their creations before presenting their dishes to a panel of judges.  At last night's competition, the required ingredient was "alcohol", with the added requirement that it must be cooked into something, no drinks allowed.

My entry was a version of an apple bread recipe I've been making for a while now and have slowly modified over the years.  I made last night's recipe into muffins with a spiced glaze.  These tasty treats won me the titles of best overall and best presentation.  They are definitely make-again worth and I thought I'd share my scrumptious creation with you, o internet.

Spiced Rum Apple Muffins

Muffins
1/2 c. soften butter
1/2 c. total combination blackstrap molasses and honey (with a bit more molasses than honey)
2 eggs
1 single-serve bottle (50 mL) of spiced rum
1 c. whole white wheat flour
1 c. AP flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/3 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 small apples, one pealed and grated and two diced

Glaze
powdered sugar; vanilla; ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and ginger; water

Mash butter with a fork and then mix in the sugars, eggs, and rum one by one. Stir in the flours, powder, soda, and salt until mostly combined.  Add in all of the apple and mix until fully combined.  Drop by spoonfuls into a buttered muffin tin (makes about 1 1/2 dozen muffins).  Bake at 375° F for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

I didn't really measure when I made the glaze.  I dumped powdered sugar into a small bowl along with some vanilla, and the five spices in roughly a 3:1:1:1:1 ratio.  I slowly whisked in a little bit of water until the mixture was smooth and runny.

Drizzle a little bit of glaze over a warm muffin and enjoy!

University Part Two

Tomorrow I will submit my signed acceptance letter and then it will be official:  I'm going to grad school!  I'm very excited for all the changes (I get to move out of my parents' house, hurray!) and the experiences I will have , but there is this one thing that I'm just a little bit afraid of. I have been offered a teaching assistantship. The last time I did any sort of public speaking outside of group projects was in high school, when we had to give a presentation as part of a larger project almost every semester. And I'm not particularly fond of being in relatively large groups of people or being the center of attention. Regardless of the challenges teaching will present to me, I'm very thankful for the opportunity and I'm excited for everything that is come this fall.