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Dessert

Cream Puffs

Cream puffs are pastry shells filled with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 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 paste

  1. Combine butter, sugar, salt, and water in a large saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Gradually sift in the flour while stirring constantly until smooth, about 3 minutes.

  4. Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool in a bowl.

  5. Once cool, add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition for at least 15 minutes.

Bake and fill

  1. Lightly butter a baking pan.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan, spacing them an inch apart.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

  4. After baking, split the puffs open and fill with cream made from the remaining ingredients.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

Flour
Forms the starch structure that holds the puffs' shape as they set.
Eggs
Add structure and moisture, and help the puffs rise and set as they bake.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the paste.
Water
Creates steam during baking, which lifts the puffs and leaves hollow centers.

The step that matters

Beating in the eggs. The paste must be cool enough that the eggs do not scramble, and beaten until smooth and glossy so the dough has enough structure to rise and hold its shape in the oven.

“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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