Skip to main content
Dessert

Boston Cream PuiTs

Boston Cream Puffs are baked pastries filled with whipped cream or custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Boston Cream PuiTs

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the dough

  1. Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until boiling.

  2. Stir in flour.

  3. Mix until smooth and it leaves the sides of the pan.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Beat in the eggs without pre-beating them.

Shape and bake

  1. Drop tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, leaving space between them.

  2. Brush with egg yolk mixed with a little water.

  3. Sprinkle with sugar.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 31 minutes or until dry and hollow.

  5. Let cool.

Fill and flavor

  1. Make an opening in the side to fill with whipped cream or custard.

  2. Whip cream with powdered sugar.

  3. Flavor with vanilla or orange.

Make the custard

  1. Mix reserved milk with flour until smooth.

  2. Add to hot milk and stir until thick.

  3. Beat together reserved milk, eggs, and sugar for custard filling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
Gives the dough its structure so the puffs can hold their shape and hollow centre.
Eggs
Add structure and steam that lifts the puffs, and set the custard filling.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the dough, giving a tender shell.
Milk
Provides liquid that turns to steam in the oven, helping the puffs rise.
Cream
Adds richness and a light, soft texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until dry and hollow. Shells must be baked until fully dry. Underbaked puffs still hold steam and moisture, so they collapse as they cool and become soggy inside.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes