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Dessert

Cream Puffs

Cream puffs are choux pastry shells filled with a sweet custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cream Puffs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the choux dough

  1. In a saucepan, combine water and butter over medium heat until boiling.

  2. Quickly add the pastry flour and beat until smooth.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

  5. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking pan.

  6. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, cook milk, sugar, corn starch, vanilla, and egg yolks over hot water until thickened.

  2. Let the filling cool, then split the cream puffs on the sides and fill them.

  3. Optionally, mix in chocolate or nuts for variation.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 richness, setting the puff walls as they bake.
Pastry flour
Forms the starch framework that holds the puffed shell together.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dough and tenderness to the shell.
Water
Provides the steam that expands the dough and makes the shells hollow.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling and add richness and a smooth texture.
Corn starch
Thickens the filling as it heats over hot water.

The step that matters

Beat in the eggs one at a time. Each egg must be fully mixed in before the next is added so the dough becomes smooth and glossy. Adding them too fast can leave a dough too loose or lumpy to puff properly in the oven.

“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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