Start by prepping your onions. I cut the onions into quarters and that length seemed good, Keep the thickness on the thin side, about 1/8".

Melt the butter in a medium size soup pot on medium heat. Add the onions, basil and pepper. The goal here is just to soften, not brown them. Stir often for approximately 7-8 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir for one minute. It should be a thick mixture at this point.

Add in the stock, wine and cream. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover after about 2 minutes and let simmer on low. Stir often. Onions can burn easily so you want to make sure you are watching this. Continue to simmer for ten minutes. Turn the heat off and let sit, covered while you prep the rest of your dish.

Grate your cheese and put to the side.

Heat your broiler (we used the hi setting)

Cut your bread into about 1" cubes. Toast lightly. I would not add any oil or butter to this, just dry toast. The cheese brings plenty of fat to the table on this one.

Place your crocks on a cookie sheet and ladle the soup into crocks to about 3/4 full. Top with cubes of bread and then heaps of cheese. Place under the broiler for approx 5 minutes until your cheese begins to brown. Depending on your broiler this could take less than 5 minutes or more so stay close and keep an eye on things. When you see brown, remove them and top with the remaining scallions. Enjoy!