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Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made from milk, chocolate, sugar, molasses, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 base

  1. Boil the milk in a porcelain kettle.

  2. Scrape the chocolate into a clean tin cup.

  3. Place the tin cup on the stove until the chocolate is soft.

  4. Let the milk boil twice.

  5. Gradually add the chocolate to the milk.

  6. Stir until the mixture is mixed and free from lumps.

  7. Stir in the sugar and molasses.

  8. Boil constantly for at least one hour until thick.

  9. Add the vanilla extract.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into greased shallow pans.

  2. When partly cool, mark deeply in squares with a knife.

  3. Set in a cool place or on ice until hard.

  4. Cut apart the hardened caramels.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 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

Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy richness of the caramel.
Chocolate
Gives the caramel its chocolate flavour and body.
White sugar
Sweetens the caramel and, as it cooks, helps it set firm.
Molasses
Adds depth, colour and a soft, chewy texture through its sugars.

The step that matters

Boil constantly for at least one hour until thick. Sugar mixtures thicken as water evaporates and the sugar concentrates. Stopping early leaves a soft mixture that will not set firm, while constant stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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