(Slow Cooker) French Onion Soup

 What can beat a bowl of  rich, beefy broth laden with caramelized onions and topped with a golden crust of cheese?  As much as I love French onion soup au gratin, I seldom order it out. It's a meal in itself for me, not an appetizer. It's also nearly impossible to eat neatly. With a bit of fall in the air, my thoughts turn to soup and I began thinking of this hearty, cheesy meal in a bowl.

A bit of online research yielded any number of recipes, but I was looking for a quick and easy way to put this on the table, one that utilized my slow cooker. I read through quite a few recipes and came up with this amalgam.

I caramelized the onions overnight. They require 12 hours of cooking on low. I finished the soup the next morning.

Ingredients:

3 lbs Vidalia (or sweet, yellow) onions, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

10 cups lower sodium beef broth
2 tbs Balsamic vinegar
2 tbs brandy

mini toasts (Joan of Arc brand or Divina are good)
shredded Gruyere cheese (1 oz per serving)

Directions:

Place the sliced onions in a slow cooker. Pour over the melted butter and the oil, add about 1 tsp Kosher salt and pepper to taste and toss together. Cook on low for 12 hours. Do not stir or remove the lid during cooking. In fact, it's best to do it overnight and finish the soup in the morning.

Your onions should be beautifully caramelized after the slow cook in the crockpot. Add the broth, the Balsamic vinegar, and the brandy. Stir together. Cook on low for another 6 hours.

TO SERVE:

Preheat broiler. Place heated soup in an ovenproof bowl. Place 4 mini toasts on top of soup, then sprinkle shredded cheese over top of toasts. Place soup bowls on a baking sheet. Broil until bubbly and golden, taking care not to burn.

8-10 servings (3 SP for the soup; add 4 SP for 1 oz of Gruyere and 1 SP for 4 mini toasts)
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TASTE NOTES
It was hard to sleep with the incredible smells coming from downstairs, but the 12 hours on low gave up a pot of beautiful, mahogany--colored onions. The flavor of the soup was incredibly delicious. The vinegar and the brandy meld perfectly with the sweet onions. I would have liked to dump a half pound of gruyere cheese on top, but all things in moderation. Next time I need carmelized onions for anything, I'm breaking out my slow cooker.