Baked Apples

The theme was comfort food and I had apples to spare, MZ recently having decided that it's not nearly as entertaining as she thought it was to eat them whole on her own.

So, gussied up baked apples, following Cook's Illustrated's technique but fiddling with the ingredients to suit my own dislike for the apples and cinnamon combination, and the need to avoid nuts if I want MZ to be able to have some.

8 small apples, one strip of peel from stem end removed, rinsed, dried, and cored from the stem end to just above the flower end (do not puncture the apple)
1/4 c golden raisins
1/4 c chopped dried figs
4 t unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c + 2 T maple syrup
1 c unfiltered apple cider, or enough to come 1/2 inch up side of the pan
1/2 cup marscapone cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place apples in Pyrex or ceramic baking pan so that the fit together closely enough to stand up. Combine the softened butter with the raisins and figs and fill the apples generously. Pour the 1/2 cup maple syrup over the apples, and pour the cider into the pan.

Bake the apples, basting every 15 minutes, until tender when pierced with thin, sharp knife or cake tester, 35 to 45 minutes. Do not overbake -- the skins will split.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining maple syrup with the marscapone. Remove the apples from the oven and allow to cool a bit. Top each apple with a dollop of the maple-marscapone mixture and serve, warm.