Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Molasses Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar, molasses, and hot water in a pot.
Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, add cream of tartar and butter.
Do not stir after adding the butter.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,408 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and the bulk of the candy's structure as it cooks and sets.
- Molasses
- Adds deep flavour, colour and moisture, and contributes to the candy's chewy texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity helps prevent sugar from crystallising, keeping the candy smoother.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the finished candy.
The step that matters
Do not stir after adding the butter. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup can trigger crystal formation, leading to grainy candy. Leaving it undisturbed lets the syrup cook evenly and keeps the texture smooth.
“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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