French Onion Soup with Cheese Topped Bread Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 box of chateau bread dumplings
- 1 to 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
- 4 or 5 fresh thyme stems
- 3 Tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Beef Bouillon
- 8 cups of water
- 4 Cups of sliced yellow onions (about 6 medium sized onion)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons of Butter + 2 Tablespoons of Butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of Gravy Master or substitute 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt, pepper & paprika
Steps
- Peel and slice your onions, this will take the most time of the whole recipe.
- Add 3 Tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a stick pot and add your onions, keep the heat on medium to low and sauté your onions in the butter for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Stir often to make sure they don’t burn.
- After they are golden brown, add your tablespoon of brown sugar, your gravy master, salt and pepper (about 2 teaspoons of each) sauté the onions for 10 more minutes.
- Sprinkle the onions with the three tablespoons of flour and sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Add your 1/2 cup of white wine and loosen the bits from the bottom of the pan as the wine simmers, then add your 3 tablespoons of better than bouillon, stir well then add your 8 cups of water. Then your bay leaves and 3 of the stems of thyme.
- Bring this mixture to a low boil, reduce heat to simmer, and simmer in low for 35 minutes. Spread you bread dumplings on a foil like baking sheet and set on top of the soup pot to warm as your soup simmers. Make sure there’s room for the steam to escape.
- Heat your oven to 450°, when your soup has simmered for 25 minutes take you sheet pan with the dumplings and spread each one with butter, season with salt, pepper, and a few of the sprigs of time, bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, then sprinkle all the dumplings with the cheese, a little more black pepper and paprika, bake about 6 to 8 minutes until the cheese is melted then turn the oven to broil and broil the cheese until brown and bubbly. Keep a close eye on this.
- When the cheese is slightly brown, remove the tray, sprinkle the tops with thyme.
- Remove the thyme stems and bay leaves from the soup.
- Ladle the soup into a bowl and serve with one or two cheesy baked dumplings on top.
- Serve with your favorite white wine for an elegant meal!
- *if you want the soup extra cheesy, add some shredded cheese to the bottom of the bowls before adding your soup.