I was planning to make onion soup for a crowd, and obviously hadn’t thought things through to completion, because ‘what about the melted cheese’?
There was also an ‘aha’ moment when I began to think ‘what about soup bowls?’ too, but I’ll get to that.
First, the cheese. Joyfulabode.com posted this wicked simple recipe for baked crisps, which looked to fill the bill, simple, tasty, and you can use whatever cheese you like…
INGREDIENTS
•Parchment paper
•Cheese
You can use grated or sliced cheese, seasoned, if you like, it’s all good. Just don’t cheap out and try to skip the parchment paper. I made two versions; one, sliced Jarlsberg, and the other, a mix of grated cheddar and Colby-Jack still left in 
the fridge from our 7 POUNDS OF CHEESE purchase for the Thanksgiving potatoes.
Heat oven to 350º
Place cheese – about 1 tsp shredded or a small slice – on a parchment-lined pan and bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Check, and if the edges aren’t starting to brown, return for 1 to 2 more minutes.
Note: my ‘calibrated’ oven normally cooks things so fast that I always set the temp 25º lower than a recipe calls for and stuff still cooks faster than the recipe says, but these bits took anywhere from 9 to 11 minutes to become what I judged properly melted, so keep an eye on them.
When done to your liking, remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for a few minutes to firm up, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Nice cheesy goodness, and a perfectly fine snack all on its own, but, I was making onion soup, and there was still a question of lots o’ folk milling about sloshing bowls of hot soup, other munchies, and cocktails all over the place…
Enter the coffee cups we never use and dessert plates! I ladled the soup into a cup, let folk choose which (or both) cheese crisp(s) to add, then offered them a soup spoon and a plate to hold additional goodies – the flatbread stars were another popular choice.
Problem solved, cheese and soup good!
Oh, and the soup recipe?
Tune in tomorrow!