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Dessert

Cream Puffs

A baked pastry filled with a sweet milk-based custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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 dough

  1. Boil the butter and water together.

  2. Stir in the flour while boiling.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Add the 5 beaten eggs. Mix well.

  5. Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheets.

  6. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown.

Make the filling

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan for the filling.

  2. In a bowl, mix sugar, corn starch, and 2 eggs.

  3. Gradually add the hot milk to the mixture. Stir constantly.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan.

  5. Cook until thickened.

  6. Let the filling cool.

Assemble

  1. Fill the cream puffs.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

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

Flour and butter 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

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough that holds the puffs' shape.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dough, helping it stay tender.
Eggs
Bind the dough and, as it bakes, help the puffs rise and set.
Milk
Gives the filling its liquid base and creamy body.
Corn starch
Thickens the filling as it heats, giving it a set, smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling.

The step that matters

Adding the hot milk to the egg mixture. Pouring hot milk in too fast or without stirring can scramble the eggs. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly tempers the eggs so the filling thickens smoothly.

“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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