Skip to main content
Dessert

Molasses Fudge

A sweet fudge made with sugar, milk, butter, molasses, baking soda, vanilla, and nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Molasses Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, milk or cream, butter, molasses, and dissolved baking soda.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Beat the mixture until creamy.

  4. Add vanilla and nut meats while beating.

Set and cut

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

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Granulated sugar
Provides the sweet bulk and, when boiled and beaten, sets into a fine-grained fudge texture.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and fat that give the fudge a soft, creamy body.
Molasses
Adds deep flavor and color, and extra moisture that keeps the fudge soft.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity, adding a little lift and darkening the color.
Butter
Contributes fat for smoothness and a rich mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture until creamy. Beating while the sugar syrup cools causes tiny sugar crystals to form, giving smooth fudge. Beating too early or too late can leave it grainy or hard to shape.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesMolasses Sponge CakeMolasses Sponge Cake9 recipes