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Dessert

Coffee Puff

A custard-like dessert made with egg, sugar, cornstarch, milk, coffee, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Coffee Puff

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg thoroughly and mix in the sugar.

  2. Combine cornstarch with a little milk and add to the egg mixture.

  3. Prepare a strong cup of coffee and place it in a double boiler.

  4. Stir the egg mixture into the hot coffee and let it boil until thickened.

Finish the puff

  1. Once cooled, fold in the whipped cream, reserving some for serving on top.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Thickens the mixture as it sets and gives the puff its body.
Cornstarch
Thickens the coffee custard when heated, giving it a smooth, stable texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and airy richness to the cooled custard.

The step that matters

Let the custard boil until thickened. Cornstarch needs to reach a boil to fully thicken; stopping early leaves a thin, runny custard. Stirring the egg into hot coffee gradually also helps prevent it from scrambling.

“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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