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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate Caramels are made by boiling chocolate, sugar, molasses, milk, and butter until thick, then poured into a pan and cut into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a saucepan, combine grated chocolate, sugar, molasses, milk, and butter.

  2. Boil the mixture for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered pan.

  2. When nearly cold, mark off 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the body that sets the caramel firm.
Molasses
Adds deep flavour and moisture, and helps the caramel stay soft and chewy.
Milk
Adds creaminess and milk solids that give the caramel a softer, chewier texture.
Grated chocolate
Supplies chocolate flavour and fat that gives the caramel its richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Sugar and milk can scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred, and the mixture must reach the right concentration to set properly. Constant stirring keeps heat even and prevents burning.

“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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