Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet candy made by cooking chocolate, butter, brown sugar, molasses, cream, and vanilla until it hardens.

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

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

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a granite saucepan, combine the chocolate, butter, brown sugar, molasses, cream, and vanilla.

  2. Stir over low heat until thoroughly mixed.

  3. Boil slowly until the mixture hardens when dropped into ice water.

Set and finish

  1. Pour into greased shallow pans and let cool.

  2. When nearly cold, mark the caramels into squares.

  3. Once completely cool, break apart and wrap in waxed paper.

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

Unsweetened chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and firm, rich body of the caramel.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the caramel its chewy texture.
Molasses
Adds deep flavor and moisture, and contributes to the chewy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth richness and a softer bite.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the mixture set soft and creamy.

The step that matters

Boil slowly until the mixture hardens when dropped into ice water. Sugar candies at a set temperature range. Boiling too briefly leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle. Heating slowly and testing in ice water helps you stop at the right firmness.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipes