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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made with butter, molasses, chocolate, vanilla, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

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

  2. Boil the mixture until it forms a firm ball when dropped in cold water. Do not stir while cooking unless necessary to prevent burning.

Set and cut

  1. Once done, pour the mixture into a buttered pan.

  2. Cut into squares when firm but not hard.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar 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 body, and helps the caramel set chewy when boiled.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and keeps the candy from sticking too hard.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavour and a darker colour to the caramel.
Chocolate
Adds cocoa flavour and richness to the caramel.

The step that matters

Boil to a firm ball stage. Sugar syrup sets according to its final temperature and concentration. Stopping too early leaves caramels soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes them hard and brittle. Stirring can cause crystals or scorching, so stir only when needed.

“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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