Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
General Dieections for Candy Making
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Use granulated sugar.
Do not stir the candy while boiling.
Add cream tartar only when the syrup begins to boil.
Add butter when the candy is almost done.
Combine three cups sugar, one and one-half cups water, one-half teaspoon cream tartar, and butter the size of a walnut.
Flavor with vanilla.
Boil until the syrup begins to thread, or until drops are brittle when dropped in cold water.
Pour and pull
Pour the hot syrup into buttered platters.
When sufficiently cool, pull the candy.
If chocolate flavoring is desired, grate it over the hot candy or add melted chocolate before pulling.
To make striped candy, pull the vanilla and chocolate candies together a few times.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides the sweetness and, as the syrup cooks and cools, the solid body of the candy.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup of the right concentration.
- Cream of tartar
- An acid that helps keep sugar crystals small, so the candy stays smooth rather than grainy.
The step that matters
Do not stir the candy while boiling. Stirring agitates the syrup and encourages sugar to crystallize early, which can make the finished candy grainy instead of smooth.
“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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