Making the soup:

1. In a large skillet or soup pot on low/medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil, then add the onions and sugar, and cook until soft and caramelized (don’t burn them). Stir often. Mine took about 30 minutes.
2. Once the onions are caramelized, add the broth, water, wine, Dijon mustard, thyme and bay leaf.
3. Bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and gently simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.

Preparing the cheese/bread topping:

1. Set your oven to the broil setting.
2. While the soup is simmering, you can prepare the cheese and bread that make the topping.
3. Shred the cheese. Set aside.
4. Cut the baguette into 1/2 inch slices, and butter each side. Place them on a baking sheet.
5. Put the bread slices in your preheated oven to toast, about 2 minutes per side. Careful not to burn them, you really just want them to be toasty like croutons!
6. Once they are toasted, remove the toasts from the oven, and cut them into chunks that are just a little bigger than bite sized. Set aside.

Putting it all together:

1. Once the soup has cooked for its 20-30 minutes, remove the thyme and the bay leaf.
2. Ladle the soup into individual oven safe bowls. This recipe filled 4 bowls very generously, or you can spread them out between 6 small portions.
3. Add the bread chunks to the top of the soup, being generous to cover the top.
4. Sprinkle on the Swiss and parmesan cheeses.
5. Sometimes I like to garnish the soups with a little sprig of fresh thyme.
6. Line the bowls up on a cookie sheet, and put them in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted, bubbly and slightly browned, don’t burn them! This takes about 3 minutes.
7. Enjoy!