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Cheese Puffs

Cheese puffs are baked, airy cheese-filled pastries made from a roux, eggs, and grated cheeses.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Cheese Puffs

Oven425°F
Time15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

  2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Make the dough

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg over medium heat, until scalded.

  2. Add the flour all at once and beat it vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together.

  3. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat for 2 minutes, until the flour begins to coat the bottom of the pan.

  4. Dump the hot mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

  5. Immediately add the eggs, gruyère, and Parmesan and pulse until the eggs are incorporated and the dough is smooth and thick.

Shape and bake

  1. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip.

  2. Pipe in mounds 1¼ inches wide and ¾-inch high onto the baking sheets.

  3. With a wet finger, lightly press down the swirl at the top of each puff (you can also use 2 spoons to scoop out the mixture and shape the puffs with damp fingers).

  4. Brush the top of each puff lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a pinch of gruyère.

  5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown outside but still soft inside.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

912Calories
38 gProtein
34 gFat
111 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs
Provide structure and lift, setting the choux-style dough as it bakes and puffs.
All-purpose flour
Forms the starch paste that gives the puffs their shape and sturdy walls.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
Milk
Provides liquid that turns to steam in the oven, helping the puffs rise.
Gruyère
Adds savory cheese flavor and helps the puffs brown.
Parmesan
Adds sharp, salty cheese flavor and aroma to the dough.

The step that matters

Dry the flour paste before adding eggs. Cooking the flour and liquid for two minutes gelatinizes the starch and drives off moisture. If the paste stays wet or too hot when eggs go in, the dough loosens, and the puffs may spread or fail to rise.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, pepper, flour, egg):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Cardamomfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, pepper, flour, egg. 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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