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Dessert

Peanut Candy

A sweet candy made with molasses, brown sugar, butter, vinegar, and peanuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Peanut Candy

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Peanut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. In a shallow pan, combine molasses, brown sugar, butter, and vinegar.

  2. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a hard and crisp stage when tested in cold water.

Assemble and cut

  1. While cooking, lay the shelled and skinned peanuts on buttered tins.

  2. Once the candy is ready, pour it over the peanuts.

  3. Cut into small blocks 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Vinegar + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together443 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

New orleans molasses
Provides the dark color, rich flavor, and chewy body of the candy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture set into a firm, brittle candy.
Peanuts
Supply crunch and nutty flavor throughout the finished candy.
Butter
Adds richness and helps keep the candy from sticking as it cools.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that softens the sugar's sharpness and helps keep the candy smooth.

The step that matters

Cooking to the hard and crisp stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set brittle when cooled. Undercooked candy stays soft and sticky, while overcooked candy can turn bitter or burnt. Testing in cold water shows when the syrup has reached the correct stage.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, vinegar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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