Onion Soup, Cheese Topped w/FFwD

Oh no.  Hours for browning onions??  The upside of starting my recipe Friday morning was I had the distinct advantage of peeking at some of my fellow FFwDers' posts.  With only a 2 hour window to make this soup happen, I went to my old standby to do some recipe comparison, French Onion Soup from Julia Child's The Way To Cook; decided to take Julia's advice on the onion browning part - I had dark "walnut brown" onions in 40 minutes.  No kidding.  And they tasted rich and sweet, not bitter or "onion-y".

Here's Julia's trick:  Start the onions out in 3 tablespoons butter (what d'ya know?  more butter!) and 1 tablespoon olive oil and put them on medium heat with the lid on for 10 minutes to soften them up.  At 10  minutes, remove the lid and sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon each sea salt and granulated sugar - this is the key, the sugar helps get the color going on the onions.  Stir frequently over medium heat for 30 more minutes, being careful not to burn things.  You will be amazed -- I was!  (And relieved!)

Recipe for Cheese-Topped Onion Soup, pp. 56-57, from Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan