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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

Chocolate caramels made with chocolate, butter, cream, sugar, molasses, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Cut the chocolate into small pieces.

  2. Mix all ingredients together in a pot.

  3. Boil rapidly for about 30 minutes. Add the baking soda mixed with cream of tartar.

  4. When done boiling, pour the mixture into buttered tins.

Finish and cut

  1. When partly cool, turn out 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Butter
Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture and helps keep the caramel from sticking.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled, forms the firm caramel structure.
Cream
Adds moisture and fat for a softer, creamier chew.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavour and colour, and moisture for a chewy texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and lightens the caramel's texture as it boils.

The step that matters

Boil rapidly for about 30 minutes. Sugar must reach the correct concentration to set firm but not brittle. Too little boiling leaves caramels soft and sticky, while overcooking makes them hard. Keep the boil steady and watch the time.

“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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