1519 | Chocolate Caramels.
—Pour into a copper basin one pint of fresh milk, with three ounces of well-chopped cocoa and two pounds of granulated sugar. Place the basin on the fire; with the spatula continually stir at the bottom until it becomes slightly thick, then add half a pint of sweet cream; briskly stir with the spatula. Have at hand in a vessel two quarts of cold water with a piece of ice in it. Dip the forefinger into the ice-water, and then by a quick movement dip it into the caramel the eighth of half an inch, taking up just a little of it, and immediately redip it in the cold water; feel and see if the caramel around the finger is firm and will easily crack, which will be sufficient indication that it is cooked; should the case not be such, then cook a little longer (always stirring without ceasing); try again, and so on, until it reaches that very point. Then remove it from the fire. Lightly oil a foot square of a marble table (but not a wooden one); place four square iron bars around the oiled table, a foot long by half an inch thick, and then pour the caramel onto the oiled table and let cool for three hours. Remove the bars, turn the caramel upside down on a clean part of the table, and with a clean, dry towel thoroughly wipe off the oil from the caramel. Then with a knife cut it into strips half an inch wide, and then each strip into twenty-four even pieces. Wrap each piece in waxed paper, arrange them in a jar or tin box, and serve when desired.