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Light, crisp choux pastry, peanut butter pastry cream, and a gooey caramel filling—these Snickers eclairs give you all the candy bar flavors wrapped in an elegant French treat. Topped with rich chocolate ganache and crunchy peanuts, they’re a perfect balance of sweet, salty, and indulgent.

Recipe Info

This recipe is:

All the Snickers goodness—now in éclair form. We pair crisp choux pastry with smooth peanut butter pastry cream and rich caramel sauce, then top it off with dark chocolate ganache, peanuts, and an extra drizzle of caramel.
Impressive yet easier than it looks. The only slightly tricky step is making caramel sauce—but you can always grab a store-bought version for a stress-free shortcut.
Easily customizable. Use milk chocolate instead of dark, add a pinch of sea salt for a salted caramel vibe, or pile on extra peanuts—whatever gets you closer to your perfect Snickers-inspired treat.

Making Snickers eclairs or the first time? Read the ingredients notes, step-by-step instructions, and tips. If you’re familiar with the recipe, feel free to jump to the recipe card.

Extra Learning

Before we jump in, here’s a few handy resources to help you nail this recipe:

How to Temper Eggs. My quick guide to tempering eggs, a technique you’ll use when making ginger pastry cream, the filling in these eclairs. If you’ve never heard of or tried it before, be sure to give this a read.

Ingredients and Substitutes

Eclairs

Water and milk: Full-fat milk works best, but skim should work in a pinch.
White bread flour. White bread flour tends to work best for eclairs, but you can use all-purpose flour instead.
Unsalted butter.
Eggs.
Salt and sugar: Sugar alternatives are perfectly fine.

Peanut Butter Pastry Cream (Filling)

Milk: Whole milk works best for a creamy consistency, but lower-fat options will also work.
Peanut butter: Pastry cream is supposed to be smooth, so you need the creamy variety. I’m using a 100% peanuts PB, and it works well, but use whatever you have on hand.
Salt: A pinch enhances the peanut butter flavor and balances the sweetness.
Egg yolks: Help thicken the cream and add richness.
Cornstarch: The main thickener. You can substitute potato starch (using half the amount), though it behaves slightly differently.
White sugar: Helps balance the flavors.
Vanilla extract: Optional but enhances the caramel notes.

Caramel Sauce (Filling & Topping)

Sugar. Use white sugar in crystal form.
Heavy cream.
Unsalted butter.
Salt. Salt is optional, but I highly recommend it. Salted caramel tastes much more interesting than caramel that’s just super sweet.

Dark Chocolate Ganache (Topping)

Heavy Cream: Any heavy or heavy whipping cream will do.
Dark Chocolate: My go-to is dark chocolate with 64 percent cocoa solids, and I wouldn’t recommend going much higher than that. If the ganache turns out too bitter, you can always stir in some sugar to counteract that.
Butter: A bit of butter makes the ganache more shiny and softer once it cools. That’s a win-win for a topping.

Step-by-Step: How to Make Snickers Eclairs

Here’s our high-level game plan for this dessert:

Make caramel sauce. Caramel sauce is tricky when making it for the first time, so it’s best to prep it first. Start the day before you need it if you’re a first-timer, so you have ample time to start over if things go south.
Make choux pastry and bake the eclairs. Next, we make the eclairs, as they need to sit in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
Cook the PB pastry cream. While the eclairs bake, we cook the pastry cream, then cover it with plastic wrap and set aside.
Make the ganache. The ganache takes about 5 to 10 minutes, and I suggest making it right before you’re about to fill the eclairs.
Combine. Once the eclairs have baked and cooled, and the pastry cream is around room temperature, it’s time to fill the eclairs and top them.

Ready? Let’s do this.

Step 1: Cook Caramel Sauce

(Check out my caramel sauce recipe for tips and a more detailed writeup.)

Prep your ingredients. Measure everything before you begin. Once the sugar starts melting, you’ll need to focus on it. Also, make sure the butter is at room temperature—take it out of the fridge at least an hour ahead.
Warm the heavy cream. Heat the cream until tiny bubbles form around the edges, then turn off the heat. Keep it on the stove so you can quickly bring it back to a simmer when needed.

Heating the cream — Heat the heavy cream until bubbles form around the edges

Add sugar. Use a saucepan with a wide surface area and sprinkle in a thin layer of sugar—just enough to cover the bottom. Shake the pan gently to distribute it evenly. Keep the rest of the sugar nearby.
Heat the sugar. Place the pan over medium heat. Don’t stir. Nothing will seem to happen at first, but soon, the sugar will start melting from the edges.

Evenly distribute and warm
sugar until edges melt

Melt the sugar. Lower the heat to medium-low or low to avoid burning the sugar—it happens fast. Use a wooden spoon, heat-resistant spatula, or whisk (my preference) to gently move unmelted sugar toward the hotter areas. Stir as little as possible. Once melted, gradually add more sugar, ensuring each addition is fully melted before adding the next. Continue until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture turns deep amber. If it hasn’t darkened yet, keep heating on low.

Reduce heat to medium-low
Melt sugar with minimal stirring
Gradually add remaining sugar
Melt until it’s light golden to rich amber

Add heavy cream. Now for the tricky part. Slowly pour in a tiny bit of hot heavy cream (about a teaspoon). It will bubble up aggressively—pause briefly, then stir gently. Continue adding the cream gradually, increasing the amount slightly each time. If the caramel seizes (re-crystallizes), stop adding cream and gently heat while stirring until smooth. If crystals persist, strain the sauce later. Keep going until all the cream is incorporated.

Pour cream into melted sugar
Stir to combine thoroughly
Gradually incorporate all the cream

Cook to the right temperature. Use a food thermometer and heat the caramel to 223–234°F (106–112°C). Once it reaches the target temperature, remove it from heat immediately. Congrats, you’ve passed the most challenging part!
Add butter. Let the caramel cool slightly by stirring it for a minute or so, then stir in the room-temperature butter until fully melted and smooth.
Add salt. Sprinkle in a little salt, stir, and taste. Adjust as needed.
Strain (optional). Pour the caramel through a fine sieve into a jar or container for a silky texture. This removes any crystallized bits.
Cool and store. Let the caramel cool a bit before using. If storing, refrigerate in a sealed container. The sauce will thicken as it cools, so don’t worry if it seems too runny at first.

Step 2: Make and Bake Eclairs

(Read my articles on choux pastry and eclairs for more tips.)

Preheat the oven. Preheat your oven to 390°F (200°C).
Combine and bring to a boil. In a pot, combine butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar, then bring the mixture to a boil, ensuring the butter is fully melted.
Add flour. Take the pot off the heat, add all the flour to the mixture at once, and stir until it roughly combines. Bring the pot back to the stove and continue stirring with a spoon over low heat. The dough will thicken and clump quickly, but you should continue stirring the mixture for 2-3 minutes, ensuring all the flour is incorporated and no white floury spots are inside. While stirring, scrape the dough from the sides and bottom to prevent sticking. After 2-3 minutes, the dough should be glossy and easy to detach from the pot, and a thin layer, or film, should form on the bottom.

Stages of cooking choux pastry — Add flour to the mixture, stir, and cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes until the dough thickens and forms a thin layer on the pot’s base

Transfer. Move the dough to a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Spreading it across the bowl can speed up cooling.
Prepare the eggs. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk them.

Whisk the eggs — Crack and whisk the eggs

Make the dough. Once the dough has cooled slightly, start mixing it with a hand mixer at medium speed. After 20-30 seconds of mixing, add half the eggs to the dough and mix until incorporated. Repeat by adding half of the leftover egg mixture. Now it’s time to get the dough to the right consistency: you want it thick enough to hold its shape but still pipeable. The V-Shape test is the best way to check for that: Dip your mixer whisks or spatula into the dough and lift it. The dough should slowly fall off, eventually leaving a piece of dough hanging that forms a characteristic ‘V’ shape or a triangle at the end of the whisk or spatula. If the dough is not there yet, continue adding the eggs bit by bit and checking the consistency.

Before and after adding eggs — Mix the dough at medium speed, adding the whisked eggs in two batches until fully incorporated.

Choux pastry consistency — Once the dough falls off, it should form a V-shape at the end of the whisk or spatula. If not, continue adding eggs and checking the consistency.

Prepare the baking tray. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat. If you could use a guide for piping, draw straight 4- to 5-inch long lines (or 2.5- to 3-inch ones for mini eclairs) on the underside of the parchment paper as a guide, spaced about 2 inches apart. That will help you make the eclairs straight and of uniform length. Some baking mats already have the eclair shape on them, so consider buying one if you often bake eclairs.
Piping preparation. Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large tip. I use a Wilton 6B, which has an opening of approximately 15mm in diameter (a bit more than half an inch). Alternatively, use a plastic food bag with a corner cut off.
Pipe. Pipe the dough onto the prepared baking tray, forming strips about an inch wide and 4-5 inches long (or 2.5 to 3 inches for mini eclairs), leaving more than an inch of space between each strip to allow for expansion. Hold the piping bag at a 45-degree angle and pipe the eclair in one slow and smooth action. If the end of the eclair has an irregular shape that bothers you, you can smooth it out using wet fingers.

Eclairs graphic — Eclairs pastry size and spacing

Brush with melted butter. Melt a small knob of butter and brush the eclairs with the butter using a pastry brush.
Bake. Place the tray in the preheated oven, then immediately reduce the temperature to 356°F (180°C). Bake for 40 minutes (35 for mini eclairs). Open the door a tiny bit (and leave them open) for the last 5 minutes for any buildup steam to escape. If the eclairs start to brown before the 35-minute (25- for minis) mark, lower the temperature to 320°F (or 160°C).

Leave a space between strips for expansion
Bake the eclairs for 40-45 minutes

Cool. Remove the eclairs from the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes, then carefully detach them from the parchment paper or silicone mat and let them cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes before piping and filling.

Step 3: Cook Peanut Butter Pastry Cream

(Check out my PB pastry cream recipe for more details and tips.)

Heat the milk mixture. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, vanilla extract, and sugar. Whisk well and heat over medium heat until steaming but not boiling. Stir occasionally.

Heating the milk — Heat the milk, vanilla extract, and sugar over medium heat

Prep the yolks. In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, and about 2 tablespoons of the milk mixture (while it’s still lukewarm) together until smooth.

Egg yolk and cornstarch — Whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch

Whisking the yolk mixture — Whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch

Temper the eggs. Slowly pour a few tablespoons of the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Repeat this process 3 to 4 times until most of the milk is incorporated.

Tempering the eggs — Gradually add hot milk to the yolk

Milk and yolk mixture — Gradually add hot milk to the yolk

Cook until thick. Return the combined mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and begins to bubble. This takes about 2 to 4 minutes.

Returning the mixture — Return and cook the mixture over

Cooking mixture until thick — Return and cook the mixture over

Remove from heat and whisk. Once thickened, remove from heat and continue whisking for about a minute to ensure a smooth texture.
Stir in the peanut butter. Add the creamy peanut butter and stir until fully melted and incorporated.

Adding the peanut butter — Add the peanut butter and stir until

Mixing in the butter — Add the peanut butter and stir until

Add salt, taste, and adjust. Add salt and taste. Add more salt or sugar if needed, until you’re happy about the flavor.
Strain if necessary. For an ultra-smooth texture, pass the cream through a fine-mesh sieve.
Cover and chill. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and let it cool at room temperature. Refrigerate (covered) once it’s cooled if you’re making it in advance.

Step 4: Make Dark Chocolate Ganache

Prep. Begin by chopping the chocolate into small pieces.

Chopping the chocolates — Chop the chocolate bar into tiny pieces

Cook heavy cream. Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan and heat it over medium heat. Watch for tiny bubbles to form around the edges—this indicates the cream is adequately warmed without boiling.

Heating the heavy cream — Heat the cream until it simmers without boiling

Add chocolate. Add the chopped chocolate into the saucepan and allow it to sit for about a minute so the chocolate warms up and softens.
Stir. Stir until the chocolate and cream are thoroughly combined and smooth. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides as you stir. If small chocolate pieces remain, you can gently heat the sauce while stirring until completely melted. Or use an immersion blender to get rid of any stubborn bits.

Heavy cream and chocolate — Pour the hot cream, let the chocolate

Stirring the heavy cream and chocolate — Pour the hot cream, let the chocolate

Add butter. Add butter to the saucepan and stir until incorporated.

Stirring in the butter — Add the butter and

Cool. Set the saucepan aside to cool, stirring every couple of minutes so it cools evenly.

Step 5: Combine

Now that your eclairs are cool and your PB pastry cream is around room temperature, it’s time to bring everything together.

Prep the eclairs. Using a serrated knife, slice each eclair in half horizontally, creating a top and bottom. Make the slice as high as possible, and keep each top near its matching bottom.

Eclairs cut in half — Slice each eclair in half horizontally

Whisk the pastry cream. If the pastry cream has been chilled, it may be quite thick (like pudding)—that’s perfectly normal. Start by “chopping” it with a fork, then whisk for a minute or two until it’s smooth or close to it. Once smooth, it’s ready for piping.

Silky peanut butter flavored pastry cream — Whisk the chilled pastry cream until smooth and ready for piping

Pour caramel. Spread a thin layer of caramel on the bottom half of each eclair. Use about two-thirds of your caramel for this step, saving the rest for later. A piping bag without a tip works great here, but a spoon is fine, too.

Filling the eclairs with caramel sauce — Spread 2/3 of the caramel on the bottom half

Eclairs filled with caramel sauce — Spread 2/3 of the caramel on the bottom half

Add PB pastry cream. Pipe (or spoon) enough PB pastry cream onto each eclair so it reaches a bit over the edges and will “glue” the top once you put it back on.

Piping the peanut butter pastry cream — Pipe enough cream to spill over the edges, creating a “glue” to hold the top in place

Replace tops. Gently set the top half of each eclair back in place over the pastry cream.
Top with ganache. The ganache should be thick yet pourable—think syrup or honey. If it’s too runny, place the bowl in a cold water bath to thicken it; if it’s too stiff, warm it gently in a water bath while stirring until it’s barely pourable. For best coverage, put the eclairs on a cooling rack and pour the ganache over them. Alternatively, spooning it on top means less cleanup, but they might not look as beautiful.

Pouring the ganache — Put the eclairs on a cooling rack

Eclairs topped with dark chocolate ganache — Put the eclairs on a cooling rack

Sprinkle peanuts. Give your peanuts a quick chop (left to right and top to bottom once is plenty; we want them large for crunch), then sprinkle them on the eclairs while the ganache is still soft so they stick.

Adding the peanuts — Chop peanuts coarsely and sprinkle them on the eclairs

Refrigerate until firm. Chill the eclairs for about 15 to 30 minutes, just until the ganache sets. This step is important before adding the final caramel so it stays neat and doesn’t mix into the ganache.
Finish with caramel sauce. Transfer the remaining caramel to a piping bag with a tiny hole (or use a small tip) and drizzle it over each eclair.
Serve or refrigerate.

Snickers eclairs topped with dark chocolate ganache and peanuts — Delicious snickers eclairs on a cooling rack

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Tips

Plan ahead. Eclairs taste best the day they’re baked, but you can make the caramel sauce and peanut butter pastry cream a day or two before putting together the dessert.
Simplify. If the recipe feels overwhelming, use store-bought caramel sauce. Making caramel sauce is the trickiest part of this whole endeavor, and it’s also readily available in any grocery store. Nobody will know the difference.
Consider milk chocolate ganache. Snickers bars use milk chocolate, so if you want these eclairs to be even closer to the original in terms of flavor, milk chocolate ganache is the way to go. I prefer dark chocolate ganache in this scenario because it pairs beautifully with super sweet caramel. If you want to go the milk chocolate way, up the chocolate by a third and reduce the heavy cream by a third for a similar texture.
Warm up the caramel if needed. Caramel sauce hardens in the fridge. If yours is too hard to use, warm it up by placing its container in a bowl of hot water and stirring until softer.

Storage

Store these eclairs in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, making sure the container is sealed tightly so they don’t absorb any smells.

They’re best the day you make them, but the peanuts stay crunchy, so they taste pretty good even after a few days in the fridge.

Snickers eclairs topped with ganache, crunchy peanuts, and caramel — Snickers eclairs with ganache, crunchy peanuts, and caramel sauce

Similar Recipes to Try

Looking for more? Here are some hand-picked recipes for you to check out:

Caramel eclairs. Love caramel-flavored pastries? You’ll love these eclairs.
Dulce de Leche eclairs. All for caramel, but don’t want to make it yourself? Dulce de leche to the rescue.
Eclair fillings. Looking for a filling for your next eclairs? Here’s a handy list.