Sunny's Creamed Onions

Sunny and Nana took this recipe to the Big House one year for Christmas, but it was the next day when we spread them over hamburgers that we couldn’t wait to make them the next year. We have stopped taking them to the Big House, but make them for the Hickory Hill Christmas dinner, December 26th. This usually means that on Christmas night, Sunny and I escape to her house to make them together while watching “White Christmas.” And as we have always done with every one of the musicals we have grown up watching, we sing along remembering every nuance to each syllable. Cutting onions is always the perfect excuse as to why I’m crying when they surprise the General.

11 large onions

4 T butter

1 cup chicken broth

4 T flour

1 cup milk

pinch of nutmeg

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1/2 cup shredded sharp provolone

Salt and pepper

~ Preheat oven to 350º F.

~ Dice onions into large chunks.

~ Sauté onions in oil until cooked through or caramelized. Set aside.

~ Melt butter and mix in flour until smooth.

~ Add liquids slowly until smooth.

~ Add 3 cups of cheese until smooth and bubbly.

~ Add salt and pepper to taste. (Do not let Susi be the taster.)

~ Mix with onions and put into a 9 x 13 casserole pan.

~ Top with rest of cheese.

~ Bake in a 350º F oven for 30 minutes.

“Where the tree tops glisten

And children listen

to hear sleigh bells in the snow.”

~ Irving Berlin