I just toast a couple of slices of sourdough bread, cut them into chunks (think a little bigger than croutons, but not as hard), put the chunks of toast on top of the soup, lay the slice of cheese over the bread chunks and pop them under the broiler until brown and bubbly.

Here's the recipe I've used for many years. FRENCH ONION SOUP - serves 4 to 6 3 Tbs. butter 4 large sweet onions (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled and thinly sliced 1 tsp. sugar (optional, see note) 1 cup dry white wine 2 quarts beef broth 2 ribs celery with leaves, each rib cut in half Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 cup dry fino sherry 4 to 6 slices baguette, cut 1/2 inch thick, lightly toasted 1/4 cup coarsely grated Emmental, Gruyere, or other Swiss-type cheese Melt the butter in a 3 or 4 quart saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly caramelized, a minimum of 30 minutes. (The longer the onions cook slowly, the richer the flavor of the soup.) Add the white wine and cook over medium-high heat until the wine reduces to about half, about 10 minutes. Add the broth, celery, salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and allow the soup to simmer until the onions are meltingly tender, about 40 minutes. Remove and discard the celery. Add the sherry and simmer soup for another 5 minutes. To serve, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Ladle the soup into individual ovenproof bowls. Top each with 1 slice of bread, sprinkle with 1 Tbs. cheese, and place the bowls on a cookie sheet. Heat in the center of the preheated oven just until the cheese melts and bubbles, 5 to 6 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and serve at once. Source: La Bonne Soupe - NYC Note: The tiny bit of sugar added to the onions helps caramelize them, but the onions themselves will caramelize if they�re sweet enough and if you�re patient enough. I never use it, just keep them cooking. I always use firm yellow onions. The large white onions don�t seem to get soft enough and vidalias become soft but have such a bland flavor when cooked. Also, this is the original recipe from the restaurant but I bake the baguette slices with the cheese by themselves and then float them on the soup.

I made the recipe this morning and it simmered all day. I used my 3.5 qt crock pot since my big 6 qt was still soaking from the crock pot lima beans last night. We bought focaccia bread. We use the big 16 oz. soup mugs, so we toasted the bread, then put the cheese on top and put the mugs in the broiler to allow the cheese to brown. It's delicious! I made the original recipe and didn't double since the smaller crock pot wouldn't hold that much. That was enough for a full mug each for each of us. Next time, I'll probably wash the big crock if it's dirty and use it so we have enough for two meals. DH loves it too! We both love French onion soup, but this is the first time in almost 20 years of marriage that we've made it at home.

Thank you Dave. After I posted this, I did find my link and yes, it was Katie C's. I have run out of steam tonight, so I'll take the onions I've already prepped and make ups some fresh and tomorrow, I'll run a load of this through and see how it flies. Question.....I usually have some of my own stock already canned and on hand, but don't this year. With the price of beef now, I'm not likely to sacrifice my roasts or beef joints for broth and canning, and none of my kin are raising a steer this year for butchering. Can I use the canned broth on the supermarket shelves one can buy in large sizes? I check the ingredients out on the labels and could find nothing in it I would think would be forbidden for canning other than hydrolyzed yeast extract. I was wondering if this was a 'filler' or thickener and therefore not be wise to use in a home canned product.