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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet treat made by boiling molasses, brown sugar, cream, and chocolate, then adding butter and cooling into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large bowl, beat together molasses, brown sugar, cream, and chocolate.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the butter.

  3. Boil until the mixture thickens when tested in cold water.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture into well-buttered large flat tins.

  2. Once nearly cool, cut into small 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the caramel set chewy.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the caramel a softer, smoother texture.
Chocolate
Adds fat and chocolate flavor, and helps firm the caramel as it cools.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth texture and a rich, buttery flavor.

The step that matters

Boil until the mixture thickens when tested in cold water. The cooked sugar mixture hardens as it cools. Stopping too early leaves the caramel soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle.

“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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