Apple Topping for Waffles and pancakes

I do a brief sauted apple for my Dutch Babies I make at home. While it would be better to use a baking apple, I use whatever I have on hand successfully but you have to watch them much more closely and cook them less. I often use Fuji because we usually have those for eating out of hand.

Peel, core, slice the apples. Saute in a little butter with some apple butter added for extra sweetness, flavor concentration and spice. The apple butter I'm using is a commercial type with some cinnamon and that sort of thing added. I do this in a teflon pan so the clean up is easy and I don't get a sticky sugar mess.

On a few menus that I've created for our brunch program, I've absorbed a new temporary rule-o'-thumb when preparing cooked fruits for breakfast, and it layers beautifully: Herbal tea for fruits is what stock is for vegetables! I will usually poach most of our autumn/winter fruits IE pears, apples, and the like in an herbal tea and spice mix to meet the needs of rest of the dish. When these are still slightly toothy, I'll pull them from the poach and let them cool. I'll take the reserved cores and steep them in simple syrup to make a flavored syrup. I'll strain the reserved herbal tea poach, and set it aside. I'll than toss the par-poached fruits with simple syrup and some raw sugar and allow them to caramelize a touch, just for color.  

 I'll take that reserved poaching liquid, reduce it with a little red wine, sugar, clove, and black pepper, to thicken it up a bit and I'll sometimes add a stabalizer like guar gum or something of the like to give it a good consistency. 

 The finished result is a kind of fruit sauce that doesn't come across as corn-starchy or too-thick when served warm. It is refined and looks/ smells/ acts gorgeously. 

Mmmm, have you ever thought of a banana's foster topping?  That would be delicious!  I put it on croissants that I dredge and fry up like french toast.  You can't get over the aroma!