Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Cocoanut and Chocolate Caramels
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coconut caramels
Take two pounds of sugar and an ordinary coconut.
Add the coconut milk to the sugar, adding a little water if the milk is less than a small teacupful.
Stew until the mixture ropes when poured from a spoon.
Stir in the grated coconut.
Pour into buttered pans.
When cool, break into pieces.
Score the candy half through with a knife when it is cool but not cold.
Make the cream candy
For cream candy, add a cupful of rich cream to three pounds of sugar and stew until the syrup candies when dropped into cold water.
Flavor with vanilla, lemon, or other flavor, pour into buttered pans to cool, or pull the candy as you prefer.
For cream candy without cream, combine two cups of granulated sugar, half a cup of water, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and two teaspoonfuls of vanilla.
Do not stir while boiling.
When done, pour onto buttered plates; when cool, pull until white.
Make the chocolate caramels
To a pint of milk, add three pounds of sugar and a half pound of butter.
Let the mixture come to a boil.
When it boils, add a half pound of chocolate scraped fine.
Let it boil until quite thick, stirring all the time.
Mix the chocolate smooth with a cupful of boiling milk before adding it to the mixture.
When done, flavor with lemon or vanilla, and pour into buttered pans.
When nearly cold, cut into small squares.
Make the fruit syrup and cream chocolates
Add chopped raisins and figs to a syrup made by stewing two pounds of sugar with the juice of two lemons, or with a cupful of vinegar flavored with lemon essence.
Use dried cherries or other firm preserves instead of raisins and figs.
For cream chocolates, combine one pound white sugar, a teacupful of water, and half a pound of chocolate.
Scrape the chocolate and set it on the back of the stove to melt into a paste.
Boil the sugar and water together for ten or fifteen minutes.
Then take off the heat and beat rapidly until creamy.
Flavor to taste, roll into small balls (a teaspoonful each), and dip in chocolate until covered.
Use two forks to handle the balls carefully.
Lay the balls on buttered paper to cool.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Walnut | 1 walnut half (4g) | 26 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Sugar
- Forms the sweet, firm body of the candy as it stews and sets.
- Butter
- Adds richness and softness, keeping the candy tender rather than brittle.
- Chocolate
- Gives flavor and body to the candy as it melts into the boiling mixture.
- Cream
- Adds fat and milk solids that make the candy creamy and smooth.
- Milk
- Supplies liquid and milk solids that cook into a softer, creamier candy.
The step that matters
Stew until the mixture ropes when poured from a spoon.. Sugar candy sets according to how far its syrup has boiled down. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it hard and grainy. The rope test shows the right concentration.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vanilla, butter, cream, walnut, milk, chocolate):
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vanilla, butter, cream, walnut, milk, chocolate. 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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