Go sober for October with these mocktail recipes

Easy enough, right? Well, not if you have a special event, such as your birthday, coming up…

Not to worry – you can take a night off from the challenge by buying yourself (or having someone else buy you) a ‘golden ticket’ for £15. Sort of a get out of jail free card, a la Monopoly, meets Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. We’re sure many will appreciate the flexibility in the challenge. 

Here are two fruity mocktails from Macmillan that make a cracking substitute for boozy cocktails. We had a go at making them ourselves and think we’ve been won over. We were unable to find any pear juice so used apple and pear. Pear drops are also surprisingly elusive so we left them out. For the passion fruit coulis, we just used fresh passion fruit pulp which added a sour tang to these refreshing booze-free drinks.

The perfect pear

Ingredients

• 240ml pear juice
• Juice 1/2 a fresh lemon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp honey
• Ginger beer
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• Crushed ice
• Pear drop boiled sweet

Method
1. Put all of the ingredients, except the rosemary and ginger beer, into a cocktail shaker or jug.

2. Muddle the ingredients (use a wooden spoon if you don’t have a muddler), ensuring the honey has dissolved and the rosemary has been knocked about to release its flavours.

3. Fill a tumbler with crushed ice and pour over the mixture, leaving an inch at the top. Once you’ve topped up with ginger beer, dress with the final sprig of rosemary. Serve with a pear drop boiled sweet.

Don’t sit under the apple tree 

 Ingredients

• 1 small ripe mango
• 8 ice cubes
• 175ml cloudy apple juice 
• Z est 1 lime
• 1 Granny Smith apple, sliced
• 60ml passion fruit coulis

Method
1. Peel and deseed the mango and put into a food blender with the ice cubes.

2. Add the apple juice and lime zest and roughly whizz until it’s crunchy, but not puréed. Then,  add a thin slice of apple to the rim of a glass. 

3. Pour the mixture into the glass and then drizzle the passion fruit coulis down the inside of the glass.

These recipes were created exclusively for delicious. by Justine Twigge, co founder of street food company Percy & Lily’s, to help support this important charity campaign on behalf of Macmillan.