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Dessert

Cream Puffs

A baked pastry filled with a sweet custard cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Cream Puffs

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the choux paste

  1. In a pot, bring 1 pint of water to a boil.

  2. Melt ¼ pound of butter and ¼ pound of lard in the boiling water.

  3. Stir in ¾ pound of flour and boil until a thick paste forms.

  4. Let the mixture cool, then add 10 eggs and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

Bake the puffs

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered baking sheet.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes until golden.

  3. Once cool, open the puffs and fill them with cream.

Make the cream

  1. To make the cream, combine 1 quart of milk, 4 eggs, ¾ pound of sugar, 4 tablespoons of corn starch, and vanilla extract in a pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened.

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

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

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

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

Eggs
Bind the paste and set the cream custard as they cook, giving structure and richness.
All-purpose flour
Cooked into a thick paste with the water and fat, forming the structure that holds the puffs.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour to the paste and contributes to a tender interior.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream so it holds its shape when cooked.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream, providing moisture and body.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and helps give it a smooth, rich texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the cream until thickened. Starch thickens only when heated enough, and stirring prevents scorching and lumps. Undercooked cream stays thin and runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or stick to the pot.

“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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