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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet treat made by cooking sugar, molasses, milk, chocolate, butter, and vanilla until it hardens and is cut into squares.

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

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the caramel

  1. Mix all ingredients together except for the vanilla.

  2. Cook slowly until the mixture hardens in cold water.

Set and cut

  1. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture onto buttered tins.

  2. 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

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

  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, helps the mixture set firm.
Molasses
Adds deep flavor and moisture, keeping the caramel chewy.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the texture of the caramel.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and richness to the caramel.
Butter
Adds fat, making the caramel smooth and tender.

The step that matters

Cooking until it hardens in cold water. Sugar sets as its water evaporates and its concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it hard and brittle or scorched. Testing a drop in cold water shows when it has reached the right stage.

“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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