Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a saucepan, combine water and butter; bring to a boil.
Stir in flour until well combined, then remove from heat and let cool.
Add eggs one at a time, stirring gently after each addition.
Bake and fill
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered baking pan.
Bake until golden and puffed, then fill with whipped cream or lemon filling.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Add structure and richness, and help the dough puff and set as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the starch-based structure that holds the puffed shell together.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
- Water
- Provides the liquid that turns to steam and lifts the dough as it bakes.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs. The dough must be cool enough that the eggs do not scramble, and each egg must be fully incorporated before the next is added. The batter should be smooth and glossy so the steam in the oven can puff the shells properly.
“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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