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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made by boiling sugar, water, vinegar, butter, then adding chocolate and cooling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, vinegar, and butter.

  2. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until fully melted.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto buttered plates.

  2. Once cool, cut into 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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + chocolatetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together481 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides the main sweetness and caramel flavor as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps keep the sugar smooth and tender.
Butter
Adds fat for a softer, richer texture and smooth mouthfeel.
Chocolate
Adds cocoa flavor and richness, melting smoothly into the hot sugar mixture.

The step that matters

Boiling the mixture for 10 minutes. Boiling cooks off water and concentrates the sugar, so the caramel sets firm when cool. Boiling too briefly leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long can make 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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