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Dessert

Candy Caramels

Candy Caramels are a sweet treat made from cream, sugar, butter, chocolate, molasses, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Candy Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the mixture

  1. In a large pot, combine cream, sugar, butter, and chocolate.

  2. Boil the mixture until it thickens and can hold its shape in water.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into a buttered flat pan to a thickness of ½ inch.

  2. Let it cool, then mark into pieces while still warm.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the finished candy.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks down, the firm body of the candy.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and a rich mouthfeel.
Chocolate
Contributes chocolate flavour and colour to the candy.
Molasses
Adds deep, caramel-like flavour and a dark colour.

The step that matters

Boiling until it holds its shape in water. The candy sets as its sugar concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long can make it hard, grainy or scorched.

“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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