WIY, sam is right. Even if the minhag of apples and honey is linked to a pasuk, it is still a pretty recent innovation only cited by the Rema. It’s not in the Gemara, Geonim, Rif, Rosh, Rambam, Tur, or Beit Yosef. Apples and honey are rooted in a very recent halachic tradition.
The fact that certain popular minhagim are so recent shows that you can be creative in this area. After all, why didn’t people criticize the Rema and say that he was being too modern by including apples and honey 400 years ago?