If your project can get away without having to build your own images; I would recommend Amazon Linux to anybody using EC2.
I've used Amazon Linux AMI's since 2012 on several different instances. At first `ps aux` you might think you are using *BSD!
Here are two useful links.
Regarding Amazon Linux AMI security updates; https://alas.aws.amazon.com/
FAQ; https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-ami/faqs/
