Name: Chocolate Caramels
Ingredients: 2 pounds brown sugar; ½ pound Baker's chocolate, broken into small pieces; ½ cup cold water; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 teaspoons vanilla; 4 tablespoons molasses (optional for sticky caramels)

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

Ingredients

2 pounds brown sugar
½ pound Baker's chocolate, broken into small pieces
½ cup cold water
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons molasses (optional for sticky caramels)

Directions

Make the caramel

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, chocolate, and cold water.
Boil until a little hardens in water.
Stir in butter and vanilla.

Set and cut

Pour into buttered pans and cut into squares.
For sugary, soft caramels, stir hard for several minutes after removing from heat.
For sticky caramels, add molasses before cooking and do not stir after removing from heat.

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.

Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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

Brown sugar: Provides the bulk of the sweetness and the caramel flavor as it cooks.
Chocolate: Adds chocolate flavor and a rich, dark color to the caramel.
Butter: Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the finished caramel.
Molasses: Adds moisture and a stickier, chewier texture when used.

The step that matters

Boiling until a little hardens in water. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set firmly when cooled. Undercooked caramel stays soft and sticky, while overcooked caramel becomes hard and brittle.

“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.

Chocolate Cream171 recipes

Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

Molasses Cake90 recipes

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Chocolate Caramels