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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made from chocolate, sugar, molasses, milk, optional cream, and buttered tins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a saucepan, combine chocolate, sugar, molasses, milk, and cream if using.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens more than molasses candy.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.

Set and break

  1. Spread the mixture over buttered tins.

  2. Once nearly cold, break into pieces using the back of a knife.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chocolate
Adds flavor and deep color, and its fat helps give the caramel a rich, soft body.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, helps build the firm, chewy candy structure.
Molasses
Adds dark, bittersweet flavor and moisture, and makes the candy chewier.
Milk
Adds dairy fat and proteins that brown during cooking and soften the candy's texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and keeps the caramel from sticking to the tins.

The step that matters

Cooking until the mixture boils and thickens. Stirring constantly prevents the milk solids and sugar from scorching on the pan bottom. The mixture must reach a full boil so enough water evaporates and the sugar sets into a firm, chewy candy rather than a sticky sauce.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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