Vegan strawberry apple sauce with Pimms

A tippler's treat, no doubt, this alcoholic apple sauce packs a creamy smooth punch, its flavours upheld by the inclusion of tart cooking apples, sweet summer strawberries and, you guessed it, juice. Well, sort of juice. Spirituous juice. At any rate, it's certainly not meant to be Juniour's after lunch cafeteria treat.

Apple sauce is one of those things, much like peanut butter, that doesn't seem to have entered into the British repetoire of foods until recently. Even still I face raised eyebrows and averted eyes when I mention my love of apple sauce. "You... you eat it plain?" they say, like it's a crime. Yes, yes, yes, and so should you! I figured with traditional Pimm's, probably the nation's second drink (next to tea, naturally), maybe someone would give it a go. This is an easy recipe, perfect for a warm summer's evening, an easy vegan applesauce with strawberries and spices.

Recipe Notes

A few weeks ago, I picked up some Saigon cinnamon and have since been keen to try it out. It's the strongest and sweetest cinnamon you can buy, so a little goes a long way. You may have correctly deduced this means to use more cinnamon if you've only got the standard variety on hand, but I highly recommend seeking the Vietnamese stuff out.

Popular in the U.K., Pimm's is a gin-based alcoholic drink with spicy citrus undertones, often consumed with fizzy lemonade mixed with fruits and mint. Here it's used as the main base in cooking down the apples, and complements the final flavour well. If you don't have any Pimm's on hand, try a mix of gin and orange juice, or wholly the latter. You may want to cut down on sugar if you use all juice.

If you want a real treat, layer strawberry apple sauce with vanilla soy yoghurt, topped with ginger cookie crumbs!

Boozy Summer Punch Strawberry Apple Sauce

Makes plenty

Ingredients
- 3 large tart cooking apples (such as Bramley), peeled and cored
- 1.5 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼c (60ml) Pimm's
- 200g (0.7oz) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 2 tablespoon palm sugar, or to taste (use brown sugar if you must)
- ¾ teaspoon Vietnamese (Saigon) cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Vanilla soy yoghurt (optional, for layering)

Directions/Method
1. Slice the apples into ¼-1/3 inch pieces and place them in a large saucepan with the lemon juice and Pimm's. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until the volume decreases slightly.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir through, cover the saucepan, and leave to cook until the strawberries are cooked down and the apples are very soft. Remove the applesauce from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Once cooled, blend the strawberry applesauce with a hand blender, liquidiser, or food processor to your desired consistency. Chill to cool and serve layered with vanilla soy yoghurt or on its own.