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 ↓
Maple Caramels
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 240°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the caramel
Combine the maple sugar, white sugar, glucose, and cream in a large pot.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugars dissolve.
Continue to cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (about 240°F or 115°C).
Set and cut
Pour the mixture into a greased pan and let it cool.
Once cooled, cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple sugar
- Adds the main maple flavor and sweetness.
- White sugar
- Provides sweetness and helps the caramel set firm.
- Glucose
- Slows sugar crystallization so the caramels stay smooth and not grainy.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving a soft, creamy texture.
The step that matters
Cooking to the soft ball stage. The final temperature sets the texture. Stopping early leaves the caramels soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes them hard and brittle. Stirring steadily until the sugars dissolve also prevents grainy crystals from forming.
“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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