Skip to main content
Dessert

Boston Cream Puffs

Boston Cream Puffs are pastry shells filled with a sweet custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Boston Cream Puffs

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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

  1. In a saucepan, bring hot water and butter to a boil.

  2. Stir in flour and mix until smooth and it leaves the sides of the pan.

  3. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and beat in the eggs one at a time.

  4. Drop tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, leaving space between each.

  5. Brush tops with egg white.

  6. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10-15 minutes until hollow.

  7. Slice off the tops.

Make the cream

  1. Heat half the milk in a tin pail over boiling water.

  2. Mix the reserved milk with 1 cup flour until smooth.

  3. Stir the flour mixture into the hot milk and cook until thick.

  4. Beat together the eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla or lemon extract.

  5. Combine with the thickened milk mixture and stir until it holds its shape.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill with cream.

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. Butter + milktop 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. Sugar + vanillatop 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).

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 leavening in the choux, and set the custard cream when combined.
All-purpose flour
Forms the starch structure of the choux and thickens the cream.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the choux dough and the cream.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream, which thickens as the starch cooks.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cream and adds softness to the custard.

The step that matters

Bake until hollow. Puffs must be baked until dry and firm; underbaked choux collapses as steam escapes and the walls stay wet inside.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes