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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet caramel made with brown sugar, molasses, butter, flour, chocolate, milk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, molasses, butter, and flour.

  2. Boil for 25 minutes, stirring frequently.

  3. Stir in grated chocolate mixed with sweet milk.

  4. Continue boiling until the mixture hardens on a spoon, stirring often.

  5. Add vanilla and mix well.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and molasses-like flavor, and helps the caramel set chewy.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavor and moisture, keeping the caramel soft and dark.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so it holds its shape as it cooks.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and fat, giving the caramel richness.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and dairy richness, softening the texture of the caramel.

The step that matters

Continue boiling until the mixture hardens on a spoon. Sugar candy sets firm as it cools, so stopping too early leaves caramels too soft, while boiling too long makes them hard and brittle. Stirring keeps the sugar from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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