Gingersnaps

These are one of the few cookies that I make that don't have any chocolate in them.  The spice mix screams 'Christmas' and they always turn out well. 

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Nutella Cookies

I've been making these for years and they're always very popular.  Nutella is super messy to work with so be forewarned. 

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
26.5 oz jar nutella
1 tsp vanilla

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and then nutella
Mix in the dry ingredients
Roll in sugar
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

 
I only ever make these at Christmas because they're kind of a lot of work.  Unwrapping kisses is time consuming and each cookie must be rolled in sugar before it goes on the baking sheet.  Still, I couldn't imagine Christmas without them.  On cookie baking day, I'm always relieved when I'm finished making these.  The peanut butter cookie recipe comes from Joy of Cooking.

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Roll in sugar
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.
*Don't unwrap too many kisses as once because unwrapped kisses are basically useless except for these cookies.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
1 cup mini choc chips
8 oz dried cherries
6 oz slivered almonts


Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the chocolate chips and then the cherries and finally the almonds.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes

Paula Deen's Fruitcake Drop Cookies

These are bite sized fruitcakes.  I changed the fruit inside from what Paula suggested to use what I had and I was really pleased with the results.  Don't make these if you don't like fruitcake because they end up being really expensive to make. 

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
16 oz fancy fruitcake mix
4 oz chopped dried apricots
2 oz golden raisins
2 oz currants
16oz chopped pecans

 Oven to 300

Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt, vanilla and cinnamon
Slowly add flour
Add nuts and fruit
Bake 25 minutes

M&M Cookies

 
I made these a couple of times this year with varying degrees of success.  The M&M's don't melt, obviously, and that can cause the cookies to spread unevenly if you aren't careful.  I got the best results when I creamed the sugar and butter together very carefully with the butter being very soft.  Also, be careful when scooping them out on the cookie sheet and make sure that they're even and as round as possible.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 2.6 bag M&M

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Stir in M&M's by hand or they will break.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Paula Deen's Chocolate Cheese Fudge

It's hard to believe that fudge can be made out of Velveeta but evidently it can.  The end results look, smell and taste like fudge.  That and the kitsch value of the star ingredient make this recipe a real winner.

8 oz Velveeta "cheese"
2 sticks butter
1 6 oz bag slivered almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs liquor (I used frangelico)
2 16oz boxes powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Toast the almonds.  Be careful not to burn them.  I put them in a 350 degree oven and keep checking them til they're done.

Combine the sugar and the cocoa.  You should probably sift them together but that just takes forever and makes a bit of a mess so I just whisked them together in the mixing bowl.

Melt the cheese and the butter.  Use a whisk to combine it and get it pretty smooth. Add the vanilla and the liquor.  It'll foam a bit as the alcohol boils out.  

Pour the cheese mixture and stir vigorously until it comes together.  I used an electric mixer.

Pat the fudge into a greased, lined 9" square pan.

Let it cool and set.  Paula has a step where you blot off fat that's risen to the top.  I didn't experience that and think it was a combination of all the whisking I did with the cheese and the butter and the cooler climate in Northern California.  Bon Appetit!

Carrot Cake

This recipe is heavily based on Alton Brown's recipe that you can find here.  I've changed the pan size and make more frosting in my version.  The cake above has been further decorated with pecan praline which was made by me and some seasonal cherries whose colors were made by science.

12 oz grated carrots
12 oz flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup cream
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Oven to 350

Whisk flour, baking powder, soda and spices in a bowl
Sprinkle flour mixture over carrots and stir to combine
Combine sugars, eggs, cream and oil.
Mix with flour and carrots until just combined
Put in greased 13/9 inch pan
Start checking at 40 minutes.  It probably needs an hour.
Frost when cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This makes more than I need for a cake but  I don't really use cream cheese for anything else so I have to scale it to accommodate using only entire packages.

16 oz cream cheese (2 boxes)
4 oz butter
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla
Slowly add sugar
Spread on cake.

Cookie Bonanza II - The Temple of Snacks

I've baked another round of Christmas Cookies.  Because nothing exceeds like excess.
 

Fruitcake Drop Cookies

This is based on a Paula Deen recipe but I changed the fruits to suit what I had.  I was a little troubled that there's no leavening in it but they turned out like I wanted them to so I it wasn't an error in the original recipe.  The end product is fruitcake bites and will be popular with people who like fruitcake.

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
16 oz fancy fruitcake mix
4 oz chopped dried apricots
2 oz golden raisins
2 oz currants
16oz chopped pecans

Oven to 300

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs(one at a time), salt, vanilla and cinnamon.
Slowly add flour and mix well.
Fold in fruit and pecans.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 23 to 25 minutes.


Nutella Cookies

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
26.5 oz jar nutella
1 tsp vanilla

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and then nutella
Mix in the dry ingredients
Roll in sugar
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Roll in sugar
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.
*Don't unwrap too many kisses as once because unwrapped kisses are basically useless except for these cookies.


Gingersnaps
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
1 cup mini choc chips
8 oz dried cherries
6 oz slivered almonts


Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the chocolate chips and then the cherries and finally the almonds.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes
 
Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip-Walnut-Raisin-Currant Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup currants
1/2 bag butterscotch chips
3/4 - 1 cup walnuts

Oven to 350

Whisk in a bowl flour, soda and baking powder
Cream together butter and sugar
Add salt, eggs(one at a time) and vanilla
Slowly add oats, raising, currants, butterscotch chips and walnuts
Place in golf ball sized amounts on a lined cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes.

Christmas Cookie Bonanza

Behold the output of my first run of Christmas cookies.  I adopted a very assembly line process for these and managed to make a surprising amount of cookies without completely destroying the kitchen.  Which completely floored Mr. Poe who had been expecting to arrive home to a horrifying dystopian kitchen.

Here's all of it laid out on the dining room table:

Here are some hints to avoiding bakocolypse:

1) Clean as you go
2) Use a scoop to scoop batter out.  It allows you to keep at least one hand clean the entire time and that really has an impact on the amount of mess you make.  Also, you end up with uniform cookies that are all done at the same time.
3) Schedule your time.  If you're planning on cooking all day, start out with something easy and then move on to cookies that get rolled in sugar because those are the most work.  When you start getting worn out, put cakes in the oven.
4) I use the double shelled cookie trays with silpat mats.  They're easier to deal with and produce superior output.
I'll cover the cakes and the candy in another entry.  Here are the recipes for all of the cookies that are pictured above.  Most of the cookie recipes are just variation on the Toll House recipes and none of these are hard to make.  Keep an eye on baking times.  I'm using the timing for my oven and my oven is terrible.  Keep an eye on yours and don't over bake.  I've tried to note where I got the recipes.


Toll House Cookie
recipe from the chocolate chip bag

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
12 oz package choc chips

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugarsAdd eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Add chocolate chips
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 11 minutes


Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
9.9 oz bag of mint M&M's

Heat oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the M&M's by hand or they will get broken.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes


Gingersnaps
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Heat oven to 350. 

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes


Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Heat oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.


Walnut Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup choc chips
1 10 oz bag finely diced walnuts

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Add nuts and chocolate.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 12 minutes


M&M Cookies

I wasn't crazy about the way these turned out.  I thought they spread too much.  I'm gonna look for a better recipe.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 2.6 bag M&M

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Stir in M&M's by hand or they will break.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 12 minutes



Nut Bars
recipe from old Joy of Cookin'

For the base:

1 stick butter
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
 pinch salt

1 1/4 cup cups flour

For the topping:

4 egg whites
stir in
8 oz bag walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
1 /2 tsp cinammon

Heat oven to 350

Cream  butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Mix in egg, salt, vanilla
Mix in flour
Pat into greased 9 X 13 pan
Bake 15 minutes

In heavy saucepan over medium heat, beat egg whites until they start to froth
Stir in nuts, sugar, cinammon.
Continue stirring until mixture dries out a little and starts to leave the side of the pan.
Spoon mixture over the base above
Bake 15 minutes longer.
Cool and cut.

Green Chile Stew

I made this over the weekend and blogged about it and my friend Mary wanted the recipe so I figured I'd post it even without pics.  I'll add them next time I make it.

Cook over medium heat:

1 pound Italian sausage

Break up the sausage as it cooks.  It should be in small pieces like the size of a peanut m&m.  When it's nicely browned, turn the heat off.  Don't worry if it doesn't get cooked through.

In a thick bottom dutch oven, cook over medium-low heat:

1/2 stick butter
3 onions, chopped



Cover and let the onions sweat for ten minutes.  Don't let them brown.  Then add:

1 head of garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt

Stir occasionally and cook until the onions are transluscent, about five more minutes.  Don't let anything brown.  Stir in:

1/4 cup flour

Stir to coat the onions for about two minutes.  Don't let it burn.  After, add

1 cup white wine

Turn up the heat to Medium and let it come to a boil.  Let it simmer until the alcohol burns off.  Then add

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups beef stock

Stir to combine.  Then add:

24 oz chopped canned green chile 
2 bay leaves 
1-2 tsp cumin

Bring this to a boil, turn the heat down to low, put a cover on it and let it simmer for an hour.  Or longer.  This is one of those sauces that really profits from a very long, slow cooking process.  Then add

2-3 cups tomatilla salsa (I used safeway salsa verde)
lots of ground black pepper

Bring this back up to a boil and then test for salt.  It will likely need some.  If it seems very thin, let it boil until the liquid is reduced and it has thickened up.  When boiling, it should have the consistency of a very thick soup like a chowder or something.  It will thicken up quite a bit as it cools.  When you're satisfied with the consistency, turn of the heat and either serve it or save it for later.

Green chile has many uses:

In a bowl with a spoon either by itself or over rice or cooked potatoes
The base for New Mexico enchiladas
Great on hamburgers
Over eggs and hash browns
Frito Pie

Super Fantastic Ice Cream

This recipe is based on one from Joy of Cooking.  I used half and half instead of cream first because that's what I had but mostly because I intended on adding a lot of candy to the finished product and I thought a lighter texture cut the richness maybe just a little.

beat together

3/4 cup sugar
2-3 egg yolks

depending on how much egg yolk you use, you might not get the ribbons that you would normally look for when combining egg yolks and sugar because there may not be enough yolk to fully dissolve the sugar.  At the very least mix it until it is combined and a pale yellow.

Add:

1 1/2 cups 1/2 and 1/2
pinch salt
one vanilla bean split down the middle

whisk together and then put over a low heat and, stirring constantly, slowly heat until the temperature reaches 175.  It's very important to get to that temperature because that's the temperature needed to kill salmonella.  Don't let it get hotter than that.  Remove from the heat and strain.  Don't skip the straining step because ice cream needs to be perfectly velvety and not have any stray bits of egg white floating about.  It's best to strain the mixture right away because it's at its thinnest when its hot.  Add the vanilla bean back to the strained liquid.  Let it cool and then refrigerate.  I always refrigerate ice cream overnight.

The next day assemble your ice cream freezer.  Remove the vanilla bean and add the custard to the freezer along with

2 cups half and half

Freeze until just soft serve and then add

crushed candy or cookies

You need to work out for yourself what kind of and how much cookies or candy to add.  I used about a dozen girl scout cookie thin mints and the same number of these dark chocolate, almond, and dried cherry clusters we got at Costco.  I thought that worked out OK.  Reserve some of the candy/cookies to decorate the top.  Turn the ice cream freezer back on until combined.  Remove to a container and freeze until solid.

bon appetit!

 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is based on one from the Joy of Cooking.  I increased the amount of chocolate chips by 50% because one cup of chocolate chips seemed a little austere and we like to assume that we've won the war here on Joseph's cooking blog.  My cookies took a lot longer to cook than the recipe indicated--  about 20 minutes-- and I'm not sure if that was because of my terrible oven or that I made them a lot larger than the recipe said I should.  Feel free to make these pretty big.  They don't spread as much as regular chocolate chip cookies do because of the oatmeal.


Heat oven 350

Whisk in a bowl:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder

Cream together:

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Add:

2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Slowly add:

3 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 - 1 cup walnuts

Place in golf ball sized amounts on a lined cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes or much more.  They're done when they start to firm up in the center.  Remove to drying rack when cool.  Makes 4 dozen.

bon appetit!

Saffron Rice a la Madame Poe

This is a vegan recipe that we've been eating quite a bit.  It's very easy to make and a great way to use up bits of things that you've got lying around.  Once you've got the proportions down it's super easy to add just about anything that you want.  This recipe is easily unveganized by adding cooked meat at the end.  Ingredients get separated into three categories:

1) Ingredients that get fried in oil -- things like spices, onions, garlic and root vegetables that you might want to get a little caramelization on.

2) Ingredients that need a long cooking time -- rice, beans and anything else that you didn't want to fry but you did want to get the full cooking time.

3) Ingredients that go in at the beginning of the resting period.  -- the rice has to sit for 10 minutes to finish cooking.  you can add things that you don't want to get a whole of heat before the rest.  olives, fresh herbs and vegetables like spinach go in then.

1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tsp cumin seed

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat and add the cumin seeds.  When they start to pop add:

4 medium onions, chopped
2 carrots, finely diced

Cook until the onions are translucent.  Add:


2-4 cloves garlic, minced

Once the garlic starts to soften add the spices:


pinch of saffron  
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
generous grind of black pepper

Stir until the onions start to brown.  Then add:

2 cups rice - basmati is the best choice because the grains stay separate but I used sticky rice here because that's what I had and I liked the results.
1 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Stir for a minute and then add:

1 cup white wine -- or less I really like wine and saffron together but this might be too much for some people.  You need 4 cups of liquid total so if you use less wine use more water.
3 cups water

Bring to a simmer, put a lid on the dutch oven and simmer over very low heat for 25 minutes.  Then stir in:

2/3 cup chopped green olives - I found this olive salad at the grocery store that had a mixture of olives and jalapenos.  I loved it. 
huge handful of chopped parsley - put in a whole bunch of it if you like
small handful of chopped thyme

Taste for salt and then put the cover back on and let sit off of the heat for 10 minutes.   Then taste for salt again and serve.

Bon appetit!

French Onion Soup

Making French onion soup is a little time consuming but it's easy and the results are spectacular.   My recipe draws heavily from Alton Brown's and I think you'll like it a lot.  It's easily customized based on what you have lying around.  Obviously, it has to have onions in it but the alcohol, stock and herb mixture could totally be varied. I like my soup to have an awful lot of onions in it.  Julia Child's soup has a lot fewer onions--  so much so that she thickened hers with flour and even cornstarch as well in one of the enrichments.    I've been experimenting with stock and have concluded that, although you can never go wrong with a delicious homemade stock, this soup is more about the onions and the wine than the stock so packaged works just fine. 

Caramelize the onions.  Add to a heavy pot:

4 pounds onions
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp salt

Turn the heat to medium and cover.  Leave it alone for 20 minutes and then uncover and stir. Turn the heat down and keep stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized and delicious.  The onions will release a variable amount of liquid and it will have a variable amount of evaporation depending on the humidity in the room.  I find that the best way to cook them is to vary covered and uncovered cooking.  If the onions are sitting in liquid they aren't going to caramelize and if they get too dry then they will start to stick.  Don't rush the caramelization process.  Expect it to take a couple of hours or maybe even more.  Rushing it will leave you with burned onions that are bitter and nobody likes that.  Alton Brown dispenses with all of this nonsense and caramelizes in the oven.  Whichever way you cook them, after a couple of hours when they look perfect add:

Two cups of white wine

let that reduce until the alcohol has burned off and you've been able to scrape all of the brown bits that were stuck to the pan up.  Then add:

4 cups beef stock
12 oz beer
Bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaves) tied together with twine on unflavored dental floss.

Simmer uncovered for an hour.  If it starts to get too thick add another bottle of beer.  Remove bouquet garni and season with

Salt and pepper to taste.

Dry out some

One loaf french bread

In the oven until very dry and lightly toasted.  Ladle soup into a bowl, top with toast and then

8 oz shredded gruyere, swiss or a combination of the two.

Mound a generous amount of cheese on top of the toast in the bowl and run under the broiler until golden and bubbly.  This is the classic method of serving this soup but a lot of people don't like it because 1) the toast eventually becomes very soggy and some people don't like that and 2) it tends to be more of a commitment to cheese than people want to make.  I think a nice compromise is to put the the cheese on top of the toast and run it under the broiler and then serve them on the side.  Purists can just pop the cheese toast into their soup in its entirety and eat it like that.  My mom liked it that way and I didn't notice any outraged Frenchmen storming the house to protest what I'd done to La Cuisine.

Bon appetit!