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Coffee Eclairs

A pastry filled with Moka custard and topped with coffee icing.

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 ↓

Coffee Eclairs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the paste

  1. Combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Stir in cornflour and Vienna flour, mixing until a soft paste forms that leaves the sides of the pan clean.

  4. Remove from heat, add vanilla essence, and gradually mix in the eggs, reserving one egg white.

  5. Beat the mixture well for a few minutes.

Pipe and bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tube.

  2. Pipe even-sized shapes onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Finish

  1. Once baked, split the sides with a sharp knife.

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

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

  4. Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

Vienna flour
Gives the paste its main structure so the shapes hold together.
Cornflour
Softens the structure, giving a tender, less chewy crumb.
Eggs
Add moisture and structure, and their proteins set during baking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and softens the texture of the paste.
Milk
Supplies liquid that turns to steam in the oven, helping the shells puff.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs gradually. Eggs must be worked into the hot paste a little at a time. Adding them all at once can leave the paste loose or lumpy, so it may not hold its shape or puff properly 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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