French Onion Soup Dip

Nathan requested a dip for snack this week, and I was more than happy to oblige. I wanted to make an onion dip, but I didn't want to use one of the dry soup mix packets and some sour cream. Not to slam onion dip made that way (it's delicious) but I wanted something that would count a little more as an actual recipe than that.

One of my favorite soups is French Onion, so I thought I would take the components of that and combine them with the same base as the Spinach Artichoke dip that I made a few weeks ago. The result was time consuming, but totally delicious.



French Onion Soup Dip

Ingredients 

2 sweet onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 8oz block of cream cheese

veggies are such pretty colors

1/2 cup mayo
1 tsp dried thyme
4 oz grated swiss or gruyere cheese
1 Tbsp red wine (optional)
1/2 tsp beef bouillon (optional)

Directions

Slice onion into thin pieces. In a large skillet (I prefer a stainless steel pan--not a non-stick) heat the olive oil or medium heat. Add the sliced onions and turn the heat to medium low. Add in the thyme. Cook over medium low, stirring about every 2 minutes to caramelize the onions.  This will take half an hour to forty-five minutes or so. In a small bowl mix the red wine and beef bouillon. Add to the caramelized onions and let cook until liquid is gone. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, mayo, and shredded gruyere or swiss. Mix in the caramelized onions.

Bake, uncovered at 350 for about 20 minutes until bubbly.

I melted some additional cheese on top of some slices of baguette and also put out some carrots and celery for dipping. The soup tasted amazingly similar to French Onion soup. I would place the onions on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil before adding them to the cheese if I made this again in the future, it did end up being a bit greasy.