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Dessert

Unwrapped Caramels

A caramel confection made from sugar, glucose, water, butter, condensed milk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Unwrapped Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 285°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar, glucose, and water until it reaches weak crack stage (285°F).

  2. Remove the pan from the heat.

Finish and set

  1. Add the butter and milk, stirring gently until dissolved.

  2. Add the vanilla flavoring just before finishing the stirring.

  3. Pour into a greased pan to cool.

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

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

  2. Sugar + condensed milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Condensed milk + vanillatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 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

White sugar
Provides the sweet base and, once cooked, the firm body of the caramel.
Glucose
Interferes with sugar crystals, keeping the caramel smooth and less grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for a soft, tender texture and rich flavor.
Condensed milk or sweet cream
Adds milk solids for creaminess and gentle browning during cooking.

The step that matters

Boiling to weak crack stage (285°F). The final sugar concentration set by the cooking temperature determines whether the caramel turns out soft and chewy or hard. Stopping too early leaves it soft, while cooking too far makes it 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.

More caramels recipes

Chocolate 316Coconut 37Vanilla 22Maple 18Opera 16Cream 13 See all 12 →

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