Why it works: Ricotta cheese and hazelnut work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 9 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: flour
Directions
Make the filling
Combine the first five ingredients.
Fold in shrimp, eggs and nuts.
Cover and chill.
Make the puffs
Just before serving, spoon a rounded tablespoon of filling into each cream puff.
In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter or margarine in 1 cup boiling water.
Add 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt all at once and stir vigorously.
Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that does not separate.
Remove from heat.
Cool slightly.
Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each.
Drop level tablespoons of dough 3 inches apart on greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.
Cool on rack.
Finish the shells
Cut off the top third of each puff.
Remove any soft dough from inside.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Ricotta cheese + hazelnuttop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together9 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
-
Pineapple + yogurttop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together254 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Carrot + lemontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,350 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Carrot + hazelnuttop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Ricotta cheese + lemontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together266 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and set into structure, and give the filling body and richness.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the gluten and starch network that gives the puffs their structure.
- Ricotta cheese
- Adds creamy moisture and body to the filling.
- Plain yogurt
- Adds moisture and a mild tang to the filling.
- Hazelnuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, nutty aroma to the filling.
- Butter or margarine (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness to the dough, tenderizing the puffs.
The step that matters
Cool the dough slightly before adding the eggs. Dough that is too hot can scramble the eggs instead of blending smoothly. Beating in the eggs one at a time builds a smooth, elastic dough, which the steam in the oven needs to lift and form hollow puffs.
Flavor stand-ins for the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, ricotta cheese, yogurt, lemon, shrimp, egg, hazelnut):
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Cherrybetter flavor fit
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, ricotta cheese, yogurt, lemon, shrimp, egg, hazelnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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