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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made with oleomargarine, molasses, milk, chocolate, brown sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Melt the oleomargarine in a kettle.

  2. Add molasses, brown sugar, and milk; stir until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Bring to a boil, then add the chocolate.

  4. Boil until a firm ball forms when tested in cold water.

Set and cut

  1. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and pour into a buttered pan to cool.

  2. Mark into squares before it sets.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the dark color, deep flavor, and chewy body of the caramel.
Light brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the caramel set firm and chewy as it cools.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the caramel base.
Oleomargarine
Adds fat, which gives the caramel a smooth, tender texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the caramel mixture.

The step that matters

Boil until a firm ball forms in cold water. Sugar concentration determines the final texture. Stopping too early leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it hard and brittle. The cold-water test is a practical check on how far the sugar has cooked.

“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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