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.

Here's an awesome thread on the topic from a few months ago that I have saved.

Ruthanna also has her recipe posted and a pic.

Here is a link that might be useful: French Onion Soups

This is Alton Brown's recipe and it is fabulous. It also freezes well. Don't skip the cognac at the end, no matter how insignificant it seems.

FRENCH ONION SOUP � Alton Brown

4 Pounds Sweet Onions
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Salt
2 Cups White Wine
3 Cans Campbell�s Beef Consomm�
10 Ounces Apple Cider
Bouquet Garni: Thyme, Parsley, Bay Leaf
2ounces Cognac
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Baguette or French Loaf
Gruyere Cheese

Peel Onions and cut in half lengthwise. Thinly slice into half moon shapes. In a heavy bottom Dutch Oven, melt Butter and add a layer of Onions, sprinkle with salt. Keep layering Onions and Salt until all used. Over medium heat, uncovered, allow Onions to sweat without stirring for 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until Onions are dark colored and reduced to approx. 2 cups. This may take an hour, or more.

Add enough Wine to cover the Onions, and turn heat to high, reduce the Wine until Syrupy. Add Consomm�, Apple Cider and Bouquet Garni. Reduce heat and simmer 15 � 20 minutes. Taste to correct seasonings, add the Cognac, and remove Bouquet Garni.

Slice the bread into 1" thick slabs, top with Gruyere Cheese and place in preheated 350 degree oven. Toast until cheese is melted. Place Crouton into the bottom of a soup bowl and ladle Soup over the Crouton.

thanks to all for your time...skeip, will try altons recipe as it seems to veer away the furthest from mine which was boring..bz

This was good and easy!

I did not put the bread/cheese in the crockpot & broil as the recipe suggests. I did one bowl at a time. I had one bowl with the toast/cheese and one without - each was wonderful. However, it does not make 4 bowls of soup - at best 3. You would need to double the recipe.

Crockpot French Onion Soup

2 cans of beef broth
3 T butter
2 yellow onions
1/2 T granulated sugar
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1/2 t kosher salt (you might need more if your butter isn't salted)
slices of brown rice bread (or french bread)
gruyere cheese (swiss could work too)

Heat your crockpot to high and plop your butter in to start melting
slice the yellow onions into rings
break up the onion slices with your fingers, and rub them around in the melted butter
add the beef broth, sugar, salt, and sherry
cook on high for 6-8 hours or low for 10-12. It takes a while for the onions to get translucent and pliable

Before serving:
--preheat oven to the broiling option
--toast 4 slices of the bread that you are going to use. That Trader Joe's brown rice bread needed to be toasted twice in my toaster to get to the desired crunchiness.
--cut gruyere cheese into slices
--put the cheese onto the toasted bread, and carefully float the bread and cheese on the top of the soup
--remove stoneware from crockpot and place the UNCOVERED stoneware into the oven
--broil for a minute or two--the cheese should be all melty and turn a golden color

ladle into 4 bowls.

If I'm not mistaken, Love2cook4six makes hers in her slow cooker. A whole whack of onions and oil cooked down. Other than that, I'm not sure what else she does with them.