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Receipt for Ralston Chocolate Caramels

A caramel candy made with sugar, molasses, milk, butter, chocolate, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Receipt for Ralston Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large pot, combine the cold water, milk, and molasses.

  2. Add the sugar and stir until it melts.

  3. Once boiling, add the chocolate in a lump and let it melt.

  4. After the chocolate melts, add the butter and do not stir.

Prepare the pan and almonds

  1. Grease a long, shallow pan with butter.

  2. Roast the almonds until lightly browned, then chop them into small pieces.

  3. Spread the chopped almonds over the bottom of the greased pan.

Finish and test

  1. Pour the candy mixture over the almonds once it is done.

  2. To test if the candy is ready, wet your finger and dip it into the candy, then into water; it should not burn.

  3. The candy is done when it breaks in water.

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. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

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

  3. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Dissolves to form the sweet base of the candy and sets firm as it cooks.
Dark molasses
Adds depth, colour and a deeper sweetness to the caramel.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the candy a smooth, tender texture.
Chocolate
Melts into the caramel to add flavour and colour.
Almonds
Provide crunch and a toasted nutty flavour against the soft caramel.

The step that matters

Testing the candy's doneness in water. Sugar syrup changes quickly as its water evaporates and its temperature rises. Testing by dipping into cold water shows whether it has reached the hard, brittle stage, so the candy sets properly instead of staying sticky or burning.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, milk, butter, chocolate):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Pecansfits about as well
  4. Cocoafits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, milk, butter, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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