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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made from brown sugar, chocolate, butter, milk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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

Make the caramel

  1. In a large pot, combine brown sugar, Baker's chocolate, butter, and milk.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Finish and set

  1. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract to taste.

  2. Pour into a greased pan and let cool before cutting 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. Butter + milktop 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 + 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

Brown sugar
Provides most of the sweetness and, as it cooks, the caramel flavour and chewy body.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and helps the caramel stay soft.
Milk
Adds moisture that dissolves the sugar and cooks down into a creamy caramel.
Baker's chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavour and deepens the colour of the caramel.

The step that matters

Boil for 30 minutes while stirring frequently. Sugar and milk can scorch on the bottom of the pot if left unstirred. Continuous stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the mixture from burning while the moisture slowly evaporates and the caramel thickens.

“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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