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Cocoanut-cream-caramels

A chewy caramel made with coconut, glucose, molasses, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut-cream-caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coconut base

  1. In a kettle, combine glucose, molasses, shredded coconut, and water.

  2. Set on the stove, stir continually, and cook until a small amount forms a soft ball in cold water.

  3. Remove from heat and add ground nutmeg and as much shredded coconut as it will absorb.

  4. Pour onto a greased slab and roll out to about one-third the thickness of a caramel.

Layer and cut

  1. Melt fondant, flavor with vanilla, and spread over half of the coconut mixture.

  2. Fold the other half over the cream and smooth it down.

  3. Once cool, cut into caramels.

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. Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Coconut + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together411 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  3. Nutmeg + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Molasses + nutmegtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + vanillatop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together732 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Glucose
Adds sweetness and helps keep the caramel smooth and soft by limiting sugar crystals.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavour and moisture, and contributes to the chewy texture.
Shredded coconut
Provides the main coconut flavour and body, and absorbs liquid as the mixture thickens.
Fondant
Adds a smooth, sweet creamy layer over the coconut mixture.

The step that matters

Cooking to the soft-ball stage. Stirring continually and cooking until a small amount forms a soft ball in cold water controls how much water is left. Too little cooking leaves the caramel sticky and soft; too much makes it hard and brittle once cool.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, coconut, vanilla. 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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