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Dessert

Cream Puffs

A baked pastry made from a batter of milk, butter, flour, and eggs, filled with whipped cream or custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the puffs

  1. In a deep skillet, heat 2 cups of milk with 2 heaping tablespoons of fresh butter until it begins to boil.

  2. Stir in 2 heaping cups of sifted flour and mix until the batter does not stick to the sides of the skillet.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool, then add 8 eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Spoon the batter into muffin rings and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

Make the custard

  1. For custard, boil 1 quart of milk and add a walnut-sized piece of butter.

  2. Beat the yolks of 4 eggs with 4 tablespoons of sugar until light, then pour the boiling milk over while stirring constantly.

  3. Return to the stove, stir in 1 tablespoon of flour mixed with cold milk, and cook until thick.

  4. Let the custard cool before filling the eclairs.

Fill and serve

  1. Once cooled, cut a slit in the side of each puff and fill with sweetened whipped cream or custard.

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar 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 puffs as they bake and create a hollow shell.
Flour
Forms the starch-based batter structure that holds the puffs' shape while they rise.
Milk
Supplies moisture that turns to steam during baking, helping the puffs rise.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the batter and custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and adds smoothness to its texture.

The step that matters

Add the eggs one at a time to the batter. Each egg must be fully incorporated before the next is added; this builds a smooth, elastic batter that can expand and form hollow puffs instead of breaking or turning greasy.

“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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