Recipe Review: Cinnamon Apple French Toast

I've learned to love Tammy's Recipes, the blog of a young wife and mother of two little boys. She posts her own favorite recipes, along with a healthy dose of homemaking wisdom, and quite often features guest chefs and their recipes. All of the recipes I've seen on her site so far have been down-home, stuff-you-have-in-your-pantry-already foods - none of those fancy gourmet ingredients that you have to pay and arm and a leg for - which are the kinds of recipes I like!

The other day, this recipe for Cinnamon Apple French Toast caught my eye, and I saved it for this weekend. I've also thought of doing recipe reviews occasionally, because sometimes it's nice to know what someone else thought of a recipe before I try it, you know? So here is the first of what I hope to be many recipe reviews!

First, let me say that my family loved this recipe! From the minute they came to the table, they were saying yummy things. Our son, Andrew, immediately thought of IHOP's French Toast, which he dearly loves, and our daughter, Beth, thought of Cracker Barrel's fried apples. And my husband loves anything even remotely apple-y, so he was happy too.

We all agreed, though, after a few bites, that the apple topping was just a bit sweeter than our taste prefers. Since I'm diabetic, I don't make extremely sweet dishes anymore, so our palates (even mine!) have lost a bit of their preference for sweets. I do have to say, though, that I had modified the amount of sugar used, because of my condition. I used half the sugar called for, then added the equivalent of the other half in artificial sweetener. Sometimes artificial sweeteners can make things taste sweeter than they normally would, so that may be what happened here, too. Next time I make this recipe, I'm going to try it with no added sugar, since the cornstarch will thicken the sauce. If we find it not sweet enough, I'll add back in some sugar each time I make it until it's the sweetness we like. I used Granny Smith apples, so I didn't add the optional lemon juice, either.

For the egg coating, I added 1/2 cup of milk and a dab of vanilla. Those are my preferences for French toast! A handy tip I learned years ago is to toss in just a pinch of salt to cut down on the eggy taste - it works!

So this recipe is a keeper, with the sugar modifications for our family. I hope you'll try it for your family, and that you'll go over and check out Tammy's Recipes. I think you'll like both!