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Dessert

Sugar Chocolate Caramels

A caramel made with sugar, milk or cream, butter, chocolate, sugar, and vanilla, set in a pan and cut into squares.

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 ↓

Sugar Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a saucepan, mix 2 cups of sugar, ¾ cup of milk or cream, 1 tablespoon of butter, and 3 ounces of chocolate.

  2. Place the saucepan on the fire and cook, stirring often, until a small amount dropped in ice water hardens.

  3. Stir in ¼ cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pan, about ¾ inch deep.

  2. When nearly cold, mark it off into squares and place in a cold area to harden.

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

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

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

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

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the caramel structure that sets firm when cooled.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the set caramel.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender bite and a rich flavor.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and deepens the color of the caramel.

The step that matters

Cooking to the ice-water test. Caramels set firm as the sugar mixture gets hotter and loses water. Stopping too early leaves them soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes them hard and brittle. Testing a small drop in ice water shows when the mixture has reached the right firmness.

“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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