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Dessert

Marshmallow Caramels

A chewy caramel made with sugar, glucose, butter, sweet cream, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Marshmallow Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel base

  1. In a large pot, combine the sugar, glucose, butter, and sweet cream.

  2. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it reaches 260°F (127°C).

  3. Once cooked, pour the mixture onto a cool slab.

Shape and wrap

  1. When cool, pull the mixture well using a hook.

  2. Flavor with vanilla extract.

  3. Roll out the mixture to the thickness of caramels on a clean slab.

  4. Cut into pieces and wrap each piece in wax paper.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Provides the bulk of the sweetness and forms the caramel's structure as it cooks.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the caramel smooth and chewy rather than grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for a soft, tender texture and rich flavor.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and dairy richness, helping the mixture set into a creamy, chewy texture.

The step that matters

Cooking to 260°F (127°C). Cooking to the target temperature controls how much water remains. Too little cooking leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while overcooking makes it hard and brittle once cooled.

“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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