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Dessert

Butter Scotch

A caramel candy made from sugar, molasses, butter, and lemon oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Butter Scotch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the butterscotch

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar, molasses, and cream of tartar (or glucose).

  2. Heat the mixture until it reaches 260°F (crack stage).

  3. Add the butter and stir until fully melted and combined.

  4. Remove from heat and add a few drops of lemon oil.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto a slab between iron bars.

  2. Mark into squares of desired size while still warm.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 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
Forms the sweet, brittle base that sets firm as the mixture cools.
Molasses
Adds deep flavour and darkens the colour of the candy.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the candy rich and softens its bite.
Cream of tartar
Acid that helps prevent sugar from crystallising into a grainy texture.
Glucose
Interferes with sugar crystal formation, keeping the candy smooth and less grainy.

The step that matters

Heating to 260°F (crack stage). Sugar candy sets hard only when cooked to the right temperature. Too low gives a sticky, soft result; too high makes it bitter or burnt. A candy thermometer helps hit the target.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, cream, butter. 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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Pie 26Candy 12brittle 4Filling 3Squares 3 See all 152 →

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