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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet confection made by boiling milk, chocolate, sugar, and molasses until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the milk in a porcelain kettle.

  2. Soften the chocolate in a clean tin cup on the stove.

Make the caramel

  1. Let the milk boil up twice.

  2. Gradually add the chocolate to the milk, stirring until mixed and free from lumps.

  3. Stir in the powdered sugar and molasses.

  4. Boil the mixture fast and constantly until it bubbles.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Milk
Provides the liquid and milk solids that give the caramel its creamy body and soft texture.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and fat, which make the caramel rich and smooth.
Powdered sugar
Supplies sweetness and dissolves into the mixture to build the caramel's body.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deeper sweetness and a brown colour with a hint of bitterness.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture fast and constantly until it bubbles. Milk and sugar scorch easily on the bottom of the pan. Constant stirring and a steady boil spread the heat evenly and keep the mixture from burning before it thickens.

“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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