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Dessert

Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a sweet made by boiling sugar, vinegar, and molasses, then adding butter, baking soda, and optional almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar.

  2. Stir the mixture into the molasses in a pot.

  3. Heat the mixture until it boils and hardens.

  4. Test by dropping a few drops on a plate or into cold water.

  5. Just before removing from heat, stir in the butter and baking soda dissolved in a little hot water.

  6. If desired, add the blanched and pounded almonds before removing from heat.

  7. Flavor the mixture and pour it into well-buttered or oiled flat tins.

Shape and finish

  1. When partly cool, mark into squares or pull it white by oiling your fingers.

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. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Forms the bulk of the candy and gives it its dark color and deep flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it heats, helps the candy set firm when cooled.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the vinegar to puff the candy and lighten its texture.
Vinegar
Acidity helps dissolve the sugar and keeps the candy from turning grainy.
Butter
Adds richness and softens the bite of the finished candy.

The step that matters

Test the candy stage before removing from heat. Candy sets according to how far its sugar concentration has cooked. Removing it too early leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it hard and brittle, so testing in cold water is needed to judge the set.

“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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