Skip to main content
Dessert

Old-fashioned Molasses Candy

A chewy candy made from molasses, coffee sugar, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Old-fashioned Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. In a saucepan, combine molasses, coffee sugar, and cream of tartar.

  2. Cook steadily until the mixture is brittle when tested in cold water.

Pull the candy

  1. Pour the mixture into buttered pans to cool.

  2. Once the edges begin to harden, start pulling the candy.

  3. Work steadily, adding a little at a time as it cools.

  4. If necessary, warm the candy over a stove to keep it pliable.

  5. Continue pulling for at least 30 minutes to achieve a light, smooth, and brittle texture.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Molasses + coffeetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together640 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

New orleans molasses
Provides the main body, dark color and rich flavor of the candy.
Coffee sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as it cooks down.
Cream of tartar
Acidity that helps prevent sugar crystals from forming, keeping the candy smooth.

The step that matters

Cook steadily until brittle in cold water. Sugar candy sets according to how far the syrup has cooked and how much water it has lost. Undercooked candy stays sticky and soft, while overcooked candy turns hard and bitter. Testing in cold water shows when the right stage has been reached.

“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.

More molasses candy recipes

Peanut 4 See all 242 →

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesCoffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCoffee CustardCoffee Custard27 recipes