Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the choux dough
Boil butter and water together in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour while boiling until well combined.
Let the mixture cool, then add the 5 beaten eggs and mix well.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto baking tins.
Bake and make the filling
Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Beat together 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 cup sugar for the cream filling.
Stir this mixture into 1 pint of boiling milk.
Once nearly cool, flavor with lemon or vanilla extract.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- All-purpose flour
- Gives the dough structure so the puffs hold their shape while baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the dough stay tender.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and provide the lift that makes the puffs hollow and airy.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the cream filling, adding body and mild sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream filling.
The step that matters
Stir the flour into the boiling butter and water until well combined. The flour must be fully cooked into the boiling liquid to form a smooth, stable paste. Undercooked or lumpy paste gives dense puffs that may not hold their hollow centre.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar. 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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