Some times you don’t have time to bake dessert, especially at hectic times like the holidays. If you are looking for pie, the most likely solution you will find is an apple pie (even many of your standard frozen brands, like Marie Callenders, are vegan). Even if you are resorting to purchasing your sweets, it doesn’t take a lot to elevate a store bought pie and a quart of vegan ice cream to a new level. The easiest way to class up most desserts? A sauce of course. This sauce is incredibly simple (three ingredients) and chalk full of seasonal flavor. Tangy cider reduces into a caramel like sauce and cognac and vanilla round out the flavors. Use cider, not juice, and the tangyer the better since you don’t want to end up with just apple juice concentrate. The sauce does reduce significantly, so just keep simmering till it is a good syrupy consistency.

Apple Cider Reduction Sauce

2 cups spiced apple cider
1/4 cup cognac (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine cider and cognac in a sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a brisk simmer. Cook, stirring regularly,  until reduced to a syrupy consistency, about the thickness of maple syrup. It should yield about 1/3 cup sauce from 2 cups cider. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool before serving. Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.