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Boston Cream Puffs

Boston cream puffs are pastry shells filled with a cream mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

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 puffs

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

  2. Stir in flour, beating until smooth and it pulls away from the sides of the pan.

  3. Let cool, then add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Drop tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, spacing them apart.

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

Make the filling

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

  2. To make the filling, heat half the milk in a double boiler.

  3. Mix the reserved milk with 1 cup flour until smooth.

  4. Pour the flour mixture into the hot milk, stirring until thick.

  5. In a bowl, beat the reserved milk, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla until stiff.

  6. Gradually add the thickened milk mixture and stir until well combined.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill the puffs with the cream mixture or whipped cream with a bit of jelly.

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. 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
Cooked into a paste that sets and gives the puffs their hollow structure.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help the puffs rise and set as they bake.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the puff and the filling.
Milk
Provides moisture and, thickened with flour, forms the creamy filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances its rich, eggy flavor.

The step that matters

Beating the flour into the water and butter. Cooking the flour paste until it pulls away from the pan drives off moisture and gelatinizes the starch. A paste that is undercooked or too wet lacks the structure to puff and hold its hollow shape.

“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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