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Dessert

Swiss Toffee

A sweet confection made from condensed Swiss milk, sugar, syrup, butter, 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 ↓

Swiss Toffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the toffee

  1. Combine a little water and sugar in a smooth saucepan, then stir over medium heat until the sugar melts.

  2. Add the condensed milk and stir well until the mixture turns brown.

  3. Add the butter and stir carefully to avoid burning.

  4. Test the toffee by dropping some into a teacup of cold water; if it hardens, it is ready.

  5. Add the vanilla just before pouring the toffee into the tins.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the toffee into greased tins and 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + buttertop 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. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 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

Condensed swiss milk
Provides milk solids and sugars that brown and give the toffee its creamy body.
White sugar
Forms the sweet base that caramelises and sets into a firm, brittle-to-chewy texture.
Syrup
Helps prevent crystallisation so the toffee stays smooth rather than grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth texture in the finished toffee.

The step that matters

Stirring while the toffee cooks. Sugar and milk solids can scorch on the hot base of the pan before the mixture browns evenly. Stirring carefully and keeping the heat moderate spreads the heat and prevents burnt flavour.

“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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