Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of boiling water and ½ cup of butter to a boil.
Add 1 cup of flour all at once, stirring vigorously until the mixture forms a ball.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Beat in 3 eggs one at a time until smooth and glossy.
Bake and fill
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 35 minutes until puffed and golden.
Cool, then cut an opening in the side and fill with whipped cream or cream filling.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Add structure and help the puffs rise and set as they bake.
- Flour
- Forms the starch structure that holds the puffs once cooked.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness and helps create a tender interior.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs. Eggs must be added gradually so the dough stays smooth and can hold steam. Too much egg at once makes the paste runny, and the puffs may not rise well.
“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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