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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet treat made from molasses, brown sugar, milk, chocolate, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large bowl, combine molasses, brown sugar, milk, chocolate, and butter.

  2. Beat the mixture until well combined.

  3. Boil the mixture until it hardens when dropped into cold water.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into greased pans.

  2. When nearly cool, cut into small squares.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the caramel set chewy.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the texture of the candy.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and fat, giving the caramel richness.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth texture and a rounder, richer flavor.

The step that matters

Boil until it hardens in cold water. Caramel sets according to how much water has cooked off, which sets its final firmness. Boiling too briefly leaves it soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle. Testing a dropped spoonful in cold water shows when the sugar concentration is right.

“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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