I'm a bit of a cider drinker myself from way back when, but I'm not much of a Strongbow fan. There is definitely a lingering artifical sweetness to it, presumably saccharin or aspartame.
Avoid any cider kits that have malt in, I don't know why they do that but I've found many of them over the years. Cider doesn't contain malt, so adding it won't make the result cidery. Maybe it's an attempt at giving the brew some body and sweetness.
For reasons that should be obvious, it is very difficult to make a 'real' cider with any sort of residual sweetness. Real cider is either very dry, or it is drunk from the cask when most of the fermentation is complete but there is still some sweetness left. If your missus drinks Strongbow she may not enjoy a very dry cider.
It is especially hard to avoid a really dry result if you intend to bottle it, as obviously you need full attenuation and viable yeast in the bottle to carbonate.
Despite several attempts, I've never produced a decent cider, and I've kind of given up - although I might be tempted to have another go at it. There is definitely an art to it and it is different from brewing beer.
As I see it, the options for some sweetness are:
1. Brew a dry cider and add a drop of syrup or sugar in the glass to sweeten it to taste. I reckon this is probably the easiest option, and I suspect it will probably prove to be the best one with the cleanest flavours, and it will let you find a sweetness level you like.
2. Stop the fermentation when the desired attenuation has been achieved, using campden tablets / sodium met (or possibly even heat?!) This may work well if you are kegging. It may require a bit of trial and error to allow for the flavour effects of carbonation and to work out the right dosing rate.
3. Use artificial sweeteners (which all taste foul if you ask me).
I would avoid the temptation to use champagne yeast, that is just deliberately asking for a mouth-puckering dry champagne-like result. If anything, and if I was going for a really authentic cider, I would probably use a lambic blend (real cider ferments spontaneously from yeasts and bugs on the skins).
If you decide to use real apples, traditionally cidermakers use about 50/50 cooking apples and eating apples.
I know all this doesn't help specifically with a 'Strongbow Clone', but unless you are happy to mess around with artificial sweeteners and pear juice I think it might be trickier than you think.