Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the choux dough
In a saucepan, combine butter and boiling water; bring to a boil.
Stir in 1½ cups of flour while boiling until well combined.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Add 5 beaten eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Bake the puffs
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto baking sheets.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes until puffed and golden.
Make the filling and serve
For the filling, boil 1 pint of milk.
In a bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar, ⅔ cup of flour, and 2 beaten eggs.
Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk until thickened.
Remove from heat, let cool slightly, and flavor with lemon extract.
Fill the baked puffs with the cream 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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and butter 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, setting the puffs and thickening the custard filling.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the choux dough and thicken the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the choux dough, giving a tender interior.
- Boiling water
- Melts the butter and gelatinizes the flour so the dough can form a paste.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the cream filling, adding richness and body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream filling and helps it set smoothly.
The step that matters
Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk until thickened. Eggs can scramble if added too quickly to very hot liquid. Stirring the mixture steadily while it heats lets the egg proteins thicken the filling evenly into a smooth cream.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar. 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.
More cream puffs recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.