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Boston Cream Puffs

Boston Cream Puffs are baked pastries filled with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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 dough

  1. In a saucepan, combine hot water and butter over medium heat until boiling.

  2. Stir in flour and mix until smooth; remove from heat.

  3. Allow to cool slightly, then beat in the eggs until well combined.

Bake and fill

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto greased baking sheets.

  2. Brush the tops with egg white and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Once cooled, slice off the tops, fill with cream, and replace the tops.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Butter and flour 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

All-purpose flour
Starch that gelatinises with the liquid and sets the puff's hollow structure.
Eggs
Proteins set during baking and add richness and lift to the dough.
Butter
Fat that adds tenderness and flavour and melts into the boiling water.
Hot water
Liquid that gelatinises the flour and creates steam for rising.

The step that matters

Beating in the eggs after cooling slightly. If the mixture is too hot, the eggs can scramble, and if too cool, the dough will not become smooth and glossy. Gentle cooling keeps the eggs incorporated so the dough can expand and form hollow shells 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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