French Onion Soup with Cheesy Dumplings

1.    Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and sauté for 10 minutes.
2.    Add the Siúcra Granulated Sugar and sauté for a further 15 minutes, stirring so they do tend to burn.
3.    Add the garlic and sprinkle in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the white wine and stock, simmer for 15 minutes.
4.    Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/ gas 8.
5.    To prepare the dumpling, place the self-raising flour, oil, salt, thyme into a bowl, add the egg, cheese and enough milk to make soft dough. Shape the dumpling into walnut size pieces. (It’s important to make small ones so that they cook in time). You’ll need three per soup bowl, so use the leftover mix to form more small dumplings, place them on a lined baking tray.
6.    Ladle the soup into 4 ovenproof soup bowls.
7.    Float / place three dumplings into each bowl of soup. Place a slice of gruyere cheese onto each dumpling. Place these soup bowls onto a lined roasting tray and into the hot oven for about 4 to 5 minutes, keeping an eye on them. At the same time cook the remaining dumplings.
8.    The dumplings should be caramelised and of course also cooked through. Garnish with sprigs of thyme and serve immediately with the additional dumplings on the side.

Recipe supplied by Catherine Fulvio