Gorgeous, non? Caramelization takes the ordinary to extraordinary, and white chocolate is no exception. Many white chocolate haters may even be recruited with this recipe, since it offers more complex flavors. Now the fun part: what cheese to pair with it?

Matched against the brute appeal of a salty dark chocolate bar or a cookie heavy with bittersweet chips, scrawny, milked-up white chocolate never really had a chance. But it can do something miraculous that dark chocolate never could.

Here’s the thing: Past that pale, sweet exterior lie three ingredients with a lot of potential — sugar, milk, and fat (in the form of cocoa butter). What happens when you expose these to enough heat? The sugars toast and you get caramel.

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Rebecca Haley-Park

Rebecca Haley-Park is culture's former editor and resident stinky cheese cheerleader. A native New Englander, she holds a BFA in creative writing from University of Maine at Farmington.