Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made with sugar, water, vinegar, vanilla, chocolate, butter, and optional nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate 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 saucepan, combine the sugar, water, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

  2. Add the grated chocolate and butter, then cook until the mixture cracks in cold water.

  3. Stir in the chopped hickorynuts or walnuts if using.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto buttered tins.

  2. When almost cold, 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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 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

Granulated sugar
Forms the bulk of the candy and, as it cooks, sets into a firm, chewy texture.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps keep the sugar smooth rather than grainy.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and darkens the caramel as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, softer bite and smoother melt.

The step that matters

Cooking until the mixture cracks in cold water. Sugar syrup firms as its temperature rises and water evaporates. Cooking too little leaves caramels soft and sticky; cooking too long makes them hard. A small test drop in cold water shows when the sugar has reached the right concentration.

Swap the walnut

The recipe marks walnut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, vanilla, chocolate, egg, butter):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Pecansfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, vanilla, chocolate, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes