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Dessert

Chocolate Caeamels

Chocolate Caramels are a sweet treat made by boiling chocolate, sugar, molasses, milk, and butter until thick, then setting and cutting 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 Caeamels

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, its concentration sets the caramel's final firmness.
Molasses
Adds deep flavor and color, and helps keep the caramel soft and moist.
Milk
Adds moisture and milk solids that make the caramel creamy and chewy.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and dark color to the caramel.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the caramel a smooth, tender texture.

The step that matters

Boiling while stirring constantly. Sugar and milk solids can scorch on the bottom of the pan, giving a burnt taste. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly, and the boiling time controls how firm the caramel becomes as water evaporates and the sugar concentrates.

“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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