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Butter Scotch Syrup for Desserts and Ice Cream

A sweet syrup made from brown sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, cream, butter, and salt, used on desserts or ice cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Butter Scotch Syrup for Desserts and Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Blend the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Combine the mixture with the corn syrup and cream in a double boiler.

  3. Cook over direct heat, stirring constantly, until it boils.

  4. Place it in the lower compartment of the double boiler.

  5. Cook without stirring for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove from heat.

  2. Add the butter and salt.

  3. Let it cool.

  4. Serve hot over desserts or cold for ice cream.

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. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Medium brown sugar
Provides sweetness and a molasses flavor that gives the syrup its character.
White or dark corn syrup
Adds sweetness and keeps the syrup smooth by discouraging sugar crystallization.
Cornstarch
Thickens the syrup as it cooks, giving it body.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the syrup rich and smooth.
Butter
Adds fat and a rich, buttery aroma when stirred in off the heat.

The step that matters

Cook without stirring in the double boiler. Once the mixture has boiled, stirring can encourage sugar crystals to form and make the syrup grainy. Keeping it undisturbed over gentle, indirect heat lets it thicken smoothly and evenly.

“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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