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Dessert

Chocolate Italian Creams

A chocolate confection made from mixed scrap, condensed milk, cocoa, vanilla, salt, marshmallows, flour, and stock fondant, set into squares.

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

Cook the base

  1. Combine the mixed scrap and condensed milk in a kettle.

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

Add flavourings and set

  1. Add dark cocoa, vanilla extract, salt, marshmallows, flour, and stock fondant.

  2. Stir until smooth.

  3. Pour the mixture into paper-lined starch boards to set.

  4. Glaze the top.

Cut and finish

  1. Mark the set mixture into one-inch squares.

  2. Once set, turn out the squares.

  3. Peel off the paper.

  4. 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 sweetness and a creamy, smooth body to the set mixture.
Dark cocoa
Provides the chocolate flavour and a deep colour.
Marshmallows
Add softness and a chewy, tender texture to the squares.
All-purpose flour
Helps give the mixture body so it holds its shape when set.

The step that matters

Cooking to 240°F (soft ball stage). The sugar concentration reached at this temperature determines how the mixture sets. Stopping early leaves it too soft to hold its squares, while overcooking makes it firm and hard.

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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