Recommendations for a 2nd Cider

Hi
I am not too familiar with cider, mostly do beer brewing. Strangely enough the hubby isn't a big beer drinker and requested some cider. I made a small 2.5 gallon recipe to give it a try, using store boughten apple cider, Lalvin Ec-1118 champagne yeast and sugar(I believe I used 5 cups). Very simple recipe and backsweetened it with Splenda. He thought it tasted too much like champagne, and I thought the apple flavors were too strong. Any recommendations on another simple recipe that we both might like? He was hoping for something along the lines of Mikes hard "_______" fill in the blank which I am ok with, there are so many recipes and this is just not my area so any suggestions would be aprreciated!

I felt like changing things up a bit and this one turned out nice and different in my opinion. I have enjoyed some Mike's Black Cherry before (not that there was a flavor specified) and this was somewhat there
1 gallon apple juice
1/2 gallon black cherry juice (or similar)
1/2 gallon lemonade
I used a hefeweizen yeast and not sure how much sugar was added but I like shooting for 1.05-1.06. I'm sure any good ole ale yeast would yield similar results. This stuff cleared very nicely and looked and tasted pretty darn good. Hope this helps. Thanks for reminding me about this one! I remember thinking a couple months ago that this would make for a great summery drink...like any cider! Good luck.

My fav is a variation on graff:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/
I like to substitute caramunich for the crystal 60 & double it. I also add a pound of dark LME & I add caraway seed to both the boil & the carbouy. All that being said, the original recipe is pretty tasty too.
Regards, GF.

I think graf is more like beer than cider, so if the hubby doesn't like beer...I'd try a simple cider with ale yeast. My suggestion would be to eliminate the sugar from your recipe and as mentioned, use an ale yeast like S-04 or Nottingham. With these, you can rack it and cold crash it to achieve a slightly sweeter finish and retain more apple flavor.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I have a clearer idea of what I may do! I'm sure hubby and I both would like that black cherry, I have some glass 1 gallon jugs so I may even experiment a little! Thanks again!