Cheddar Apple Soup

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons mustard powder
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 4 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored, and chopped, divided
• 3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 2 dashes hot pepper sauce (such as Tapatio), or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat; saute onion until tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle flour and mustard powder over onion and stir to coat. Cook and stir onion mixture until flour and mustard have dissolved, 1 to 2 more minutes.

Stir chicken stock into onion mixture until well-blended; add 3/4 the apples. Cover the stockpot with a lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer until soup is thickened and apple is tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir Cheddar cheese into soup, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted and soup is a silky texture, 3 to 5 minutes.

Blend soup using a hand blender or transfer soup to a blender, working in batches, until soup is smooth. Stir hot sauce and black pepper into soup. Ladle soup into serving bowls and garnish with remaining 1/4 chopped apple.