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Dessert

Chocolate Italian Creams

A chocolate dessert made from mixed scrap, condensed milk, cocoa, vanilla, salt, marshmallows, flour, and stock fondant.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Italian Creams

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy base

  1. In a kettle, combine the mixed scrap and condensed milk.

  2. Set the kettle on fire and stir constantly until the mixture reaches 240°F (soft ball stage).

  3. Remove from heat and add dark cocoa, vanilla extract, salt, marshmallows, flour, and stock fondant.

  4. Stir until smooth and pour into paper-lined starch boards to set.

Finish and break apart

  1. Glaze the top and mark into one-inch squares.

  2. Once set, turn out, peel off the paper, and break apart.

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. Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Condensed milk + vanillatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Condensed milk + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together410 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cocoa + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Condensed milk
Adds sugar and milk solids that give the candy a soft, creamy body.
Dark cocoa
Provides the chocolate flavor and deep color of the candy.
Marshmallows
Add sweetness and a soft, chewy texture to the mixture.
Flour
Helps thicken the mixture so it sets firm enough to cut.
Stock fondant
Adds sugar that contributes sweetness and a smooth, fine texture.

The step that matters

Cooking to 240°F (soft ball stage). Sugar concentration determines firmness once cooled. Taking the mixture to the soft ball stage gives a set that holds its shape without turning hard or staying runny. Stirring constantly prevents scorching on the bottom of the kettle.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (condensed milk, vanilla, flour):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Macadamia nutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against condensed milk, vanilla, flour. 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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