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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A caramel candy made with brown sugar, white sugar, cream, chocolate, flour, and syrup, boiled and set into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large pot, combine the syrup, brown sugar, and white sugar.

  2. Grate the baking chocolate and mix it with a little cream to form a smooth paste.

  3. Add the chocolate paste and flour mixed with the cream to the pot.

  4. Boil the mixture together for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into greased pans and let it cool.

  2. Once cool enough to handle, mark the candy into squares with a greased knife.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  4. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 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

Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and molasses flavor, and helps the caramel turn soft and chewy.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps set the body of the caramel as it boils.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the caramel a smooth, soft texture.
Baking chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and fat, deepening color and richness.
Best syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, and slows crystallization for a smooth texture.
Flour
Thickens the mixture slightly, giving the caramel a firmer body.

The step that matters

Boil for 30 minutes while stirring frequently. Sugar mixtures can scorch or burn on the bottom of the pot if not stirred, and the boiling time controls how much moisture evaporates, which determines whether the caramel sets firm or stays soft.

“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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