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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels 1

A sweet candy made from chocolate, sugar, butter, molasses, vanilla, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 1

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Combine grated chocolate, sugar, butter, molasses, vanilla, and cream or milk in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture until it hardens when tested in water.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into buttered pans.

  2. Before it cools completely, cut 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the firm body that sets the caramel.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and fat that gives the caramel a rich texture.
Molasses
Adds depth, dark colour and extra moisture that keeps the caramel chewy.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and dairy richness that softens the texture of the caramel.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender bite and helps keep the candy from sticking.

The step that matters

Boil until it hardens when tested in water. Sugar candy sets according to how much water has boiled off and how far the sugar has cooked. Undercooked mixture stays soft and sticky, while overcooked mixture turns hard and brittle. The water test shows when the sugar reaches the right concentration for a chewy set.

“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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