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Dessert

Molasses Cocoanut Cream Rolls

A sweet roll made from molasses, sugar, glucose, butter, and coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Cocoanut Cream Rolls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coconut cream

  1. Combine 5 pounds sugar, 1½ pounds glucose, and enough water to dissolve in a kettle. Cook to 238°F (114°C).

  2. Pour the mixture onto a damp slab, scatter 2 pounds grated coconut over it, and use a paddle to cream immediately.

Make the molasses coating

  1. In another kettle, combine 8 pounds sugar, 2 pounds glucose, and enough water to dissolve. Add 1 pint dark molasses and ½ pound butter. Stir and cook to about 270°F (132°C).

  2. Pour the mixture onto the slab, pull it on a hook to twist out the air, and flatten it out in front of your table furnace.

Shape and set

  1. Place the coconut cream in the center of the flattened molasses mixture, roll the molasses around the cream, and close both ends.

  2. Shape it like a stick, pulling it slightly larger than stick candy, and cut into about three‑inch lengths.

  3. Place the pieces in pans for two hours until the outside forms a grainy jacket.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + coconuttop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides the sweet, firm body that the candy sets around.
Glucose
Helps prevent sugar from crystallising, keeping the candy smooth.
Fresh coconut
Adds moist, chewy texture and coconut flavour to the centre.
Dark molasses
Adds deep flavour, colour and some moisture to the outer layer.
Butter
Adds fat for a softer, richer bite.

The step that matters

Cooking the molasses mixture to 270°F (132°C). This temperature controls how firm the candy becomes once cooled. Stopping early leaves it too soft to hold its shape, while overcooking makes it brittle and hard to shape.

Swap the coconut

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses. 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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