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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made by mixing molasses, chocolate, brown sugar, butter, and cream, boiling until thick, then cooling and cutting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large bowl, beat together the molasses, chocolate, brown sugar, butter, and cream or milk.

  2. Boil the mixture until it thickens.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the thickened mixture into well-buttered large flat tins.

  2. Allow to cool nearly completely, then cut into small squares.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, moisture, and a chewy texture as the mixture sets.
Chocolate
Adds rich flavor and fat, and firms the candy as it cools.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and caramel flavor, and helps the mixture set chewy.
Butter
Adds fat for smoothness, richness, and a tender bite.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the set of the caramel.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until it thickens. Cooking drives off water and concentrates the sugars, which sets the final texture. Stopping too early leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it hard and brittle.

“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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