Do the onions first, they take over an hour. Half and trim yellow onions, peel and slice 1/4” thick. Save trim and peels for onion soup broth. Braise onions in butter, cast iron dutch oven, low heat, lid on till onion juices have evaporated. Stir every five minutes. Take lid off, taste, add spices, add sugar, stir till browning, stir till all pieces are well carmelized. Adding some, not too much, granulated sugar when braising the onions speeds up the baking process by 20 minutes.

Make the pie crust next. In dough mixer, add cubed butter and tablespoons of lard, flour and salt on top, mix till clumping, drizzle in ice water, make dough ball, refrigerate 30 minutes.

Cube, then shred the Brie cheese.

On flour dusted cutting board, roll out dough to 13” circle, press pie form in center to cut 11” diameter bottom, cut extra dough in strips to cover 2” high sides, refrigerate till stiff. No need to prebake this pie crust.

Stir shredded brie and blue cheese powder into beaten eggs and heavy cream. Add the carmelized onions. Stir in the breadcrumbs till filling is thick. Ladle into pie crust. Cover well with grated Parmesan cheese as topping. Cool in fridge while oven preheats to 350F degrees.

Bake 40 minutes at 350F degrees. To test for doneness, Prick with fork to test if filling is solid and does not stick to fork. Cut in four slices to serve hot or cut in eight slices and wrap in parchment paper for gifting. Enjoy.

Use cast iron dutch oven with leftover onion juices and leftover peels to make onion peel broth. Add 4 cups water, add onion trim, peels, lemon, bring to hard boil, simmer 2 hours for a rich dark broth. Makes a quart. Peels go to compost.