I made this recipe with a few modifications. I only used 3 eggs (all I had), a big splash of milk, a large pinch of nutmeg, 3 large pinches of brown sugar, a pinch of ground cinnamon in the egg mixture and I added a pinch of dried ground lemon peel (McCormick's) and I fried the bread in peanut oil (peanut oil never burns) and butter. I finished off the french toast with a drizzle of melted butter and powder sugar and it was really easy and delicious! I will be making this again when I am short on time and I want a crowd pleaser.

Reviewed On: Sep. 7, 2009

I made this recipe for 18 people. I was making two desserts for a holiday meal so I put the custard into smaller ramekins than the recipe called for hoping to make a smaller version of creme brulee; big mistake! If you are going to make the effort to make this recipe I would say either make a huge creme brulee that you can put individual portions onto a plate or follow the recipe. I used ramekins that were too shallow which made it difficult to put into a water bath and to remove from a water bath without spilling them. Additionally, I was hoping to make a thicker sugar topping so I added the tablespoon to my smaller ramekins and two things happened that I didn't anticipate: 1) the sugar took longer to carmelize which cause the custard to bubble causing them to loose their perfectly smooth surface and 2) the sugar mixed with the custard making it too sweet for my taste. Anyhow, I tasted the custard prior to the sugar and it was perfection so if you don't deviate from the recipe I think this recipe is easy and tasty!!

Reviewed On: Mar. 28, 2005

My mom is from Peru and she makes empandas from a very similar recipe. This recipe gets two thumbs up for its authenticity! The only difference between my mom's empanadas and this recipe is the way you cook the beef. In my mom's recipe the beef is fried with all of the seasonings and onions. It is then drained of its excess fat. 80% lean works best because it prevents the meat from getting dried out when baking. I grew up eating beef empanadas and they are great! I think condiments really add something to the empandas; we always ate them with either lemon squeezed over them which works really well with the sweetness of the raisins and the spicyness of the paprika. The second option was to pour a few shakes of hotsauce to into your empanada. Cayenne peppersauce is excellent on an empanada!

Reviewed On: Dec. 13, 2004