Apple Pie Cornish Game Hens

My son started crying one morning and woke me up. Once he was back down, I found myself wide awake and unable to get back to sleep before I had to wake up for work an hour later. As I lay in bed awake, I came up with the following recipe. It's still a work in process. Oddly enough, I've found that it tasted a bit better cold than it did hot. If anyone has some suggestions on how to perfect the concept, I'm happy to hear them.

Please note with the spices that I am NEVER precise in measuring them out, opting instead for what feels/smells/tastes right. What you see below is an estimate of what I used.

Apple Pie Cornish Game Hens



Prep Time: 10-20 Minutes
Time to Marinade: 0 Minutes
Grill Time: 20-40 Minutes

Ingredients:
2 - Cornish Game Hens
1 can - Apple Pie Filling
Olive Oil
1 Cup - Brown Sugar

Spices:
1 Tbs - Ginger
1 Tbs - Basil
2 tsp - Cinnamon
1 tsp - Table Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Sea Salt

Directions:
1.) Preheat the grill to 400 degrees and oil it.

2.) Mix and blend the Applie Pie Filling, Brown Sugar, Ginger Powder, Basil, Table Salt and Cinnamon in a blender. Pour 1 or 2 cups of the mixture into a seperate container and set the blender aside in the refrigerator (you will use the mix left in the blender to coat the game hens when you serve them).

3.) Rinse the hens and cut them in half lengthwise down the rib-cage so that they lie flat open. Using a cajun injector, draw the applie pie mixture from the seperate container until the cajun injector is full. Inserting the injector deep into the meat, pump the hens full of the apple pie mixture in several places. Use 1 or 2 full syringes in each bird. (Click here to for a video on how to use the injector)

Note: DO NOT stick the cajun injector into the mixture that you have set aside in the blender; you don't want to contaminate it.

4.) Brush both sides of the birds with olive oil, then sprinkle them lightly and evenly with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper.

5.) Grill the birds for 20-40 minutes, starting skin-side down and flipping them to skin-side up after 5-10 minutes. Repeat the process, flipping the birds every 5-10 minutes until they reach an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

6.) Display the entire bird face down (as pictured above and below). Take the pie-filling mixture that is left in the blender out of the fridge and either pour it over the top of the hens, or serve it as a sauce on-the-side.

Enjoy.