I’ve spent considerable time in Portugal now. It’s funny how a few days of feeling unfamiliar and having to adjust to steep hills and new streets quickly turns into mindless walking around familiar corners. Repeat trips to beloved sandwich shops. I feel more of a part of this place. So this week I am anticipating Halloween. Walking around at night with kids in costumes, howls, and candy. I’m thinking back to past Halloweens, and I made these peanut chocolate eclairs to celebrate my favorite candy. Peanut butter cups.

Growing up as an only child, Halloween was an opportunity to be social. Parents would coordinate costumes with playdate pals. Superman and batman. The power rangers. Colorful Christmas presents made with cardboard boxes. I was a shy kid, and loved trick-or-treating. I remember an older couple of men who knew my parents. They were artists and gentle, kind people. They gave me gold coins and chocolate candies while I played with their pets. It was magical. I remember countless parties at the YMCA, toilet paper-wrapped houses. Smashed pumpkins. Costume parties at school.

My favorite part of Halloween was the candy. I was a kid that rarely ate gummies, but I was always eating chocolate. Kit-Kats, Crunch bars, Snickers, Twix. My absolute favorite has always been Reese’s. The combination of smooth, creamy peanut butter with a milk chocolate shell. It mixes together in a harmonious sugary silk that I dream about regularly. While I don’t eat them enough, the combination of chocolate and peanut butter has always been one of my favorite things.

For the last few weeks in Maine before leaving for Portugal, I was brainstorming fall recipes. While I was on a savory kick, I wanted to balance my list of main dishes and appetizers with desserts. I always save one or two spots each couple months for something chocolate and indulgent. So, I thought of many chocolate recipes for this ode to Halloween. Rice Crispy treats with chocolate. Chocolate covered peanut butter balls. Nothing felt quite right. Then, I started dreaming about choux pastry again. And I got excited about peanut chocolate eclairs.

I started by studying my profiterole recipe and experimenting with replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder. I wanted the structure and texture of choux with as much chocolate flavor as possible. You begin a normal recipe with a bubbling mixture of water and butter. So, I cooked the same amount of leftover coffee with my butter, salt, and added a flour and cocoa powder mixture to the pot. Then, I transferred the stiff dough to my stand mixer and beat it to remove the hot air while I cleaned.

After that I added the eggs. I tweaked this recipe to fit 4 large eggs perfectly. My biggest gripe with choux pastry is that it’s very hard to get the quantity of egg right. It’s such a small difference between too gloopy and too stiff. You want your mixture to form a V shape when you pick up your spatula. After beating my mixture and adding my eggs one at a time, it was perfect. I transferred my rich brown dough to a piping bag and happily lined two baking sheets in preparation for baking my peanut chocolate eclairs.

I snipped off the tip, going further than I normally would in order to pipe a good thickness of dough for my eclairs. With one careful swoop, I piped several plump lines of dough onto my baking sheets. They looked shiny and glossy from the eggs. My dough was gone, leaving a shaggy brown piping bag behind. Then, I brushed the tops of my chocolate eclairs with egg wash. They baked and cracked and formed beautiful, airy, light eclairs.

The filing was equally as important. I decided to whip a ganache, the easiest and most flavorful frosting or filling, in my opinion. It involves making a normal ganache. So, pouring hot cream over chocolate. All you have to do is stir it together and chill it and whip it. This time, to impart that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup flavor, I added a large dollop of peanut butter, butter, and a little salt. The ganache swirled and coalesced into a beautiful amber-brown liquid ganache. So, I covered the bowl and chilled it for a few hours while I made my choux.

When the choux was out of the oven, cooling, I checked on my ganache and it was mostly firm. Like a well-set chocolate tart. I left it uncovered on the counter for a few minutes, then whipped it with a hand mixer into a fluffy, airy frosting. The magic of whipping ganache never gets old. The butter and heavy whipping cream naturally swirl into a fluffy frosting, while the chocolate and peanut butter impart deep flavor into the lightened mousse. I transferred my mix to another piping bag and waited for my peanut chocolate eclairs to cool. I debated dipping them in chocolate. But I decided to keep it simple.

I found a new can of sliced peanuts as well as crunchy chocolate balls that my mom gifted me. I sliced the tops of my eclairs off. The visual result is much more stunning than simply filling them, and you can see what you’re eating. Plus, it’s much easier. I used a star piping tip and created perfect swirls of chocolate peanut butter frosting into the hollow bodies. Then, I garnished them with many crispy chocolate balls and sliced peanuts. I dusted the tops of the eclairs with powdered sugar and placed them delicately on top, like snowy hats.

That day I watched a horror movie with the lights off while I ate an eclair. I had it nestled on my black plate, sneaking bites in between scenes. The pastry is beautifully soft and delicate. Slightly eggy, delightfully so, with an earthy cocoa flavor. The frosting was silky smooth. The first note is rich, dark chocolate, and then the umami salty flavor of peanut butter. It reminded me instantly of that magical Halloween candy, turned into a sophisticated pastry. The chocolate balls were perfect for adding texture. A pop of satisfying crunch. And the peanuts added salt and a slight savory flavor.

I froze the rest in a tight Tupperware for another rainy day. This year I’ll be in Portugal on Halloween, and I’m dreaming of chocolate cookies with Reese’s cups. I was surprised to see that Reese’s are plentiful here in supermarkets and small convenience stores. In Italy I could only find them at an American Halloween store, and enjoyed them with a viewing of Practical Magic last year. This time, we plan to walk around the city after dark. Traverse the steep cobblestone hills in our warmer garb. No costumes, probably, but all the spirit and curiosity of children.

Portugal at night. A moonlit city on a hill, leading into the Douro River. Laughter and screams of drunk people slither through the streets while elderly couples hold hands, walking at a snail’s pace. In a convenience store, we peruse snack chips and chocolate candies while a man asks for help finding sardines. He laughs as we point at the tins of cat food. We stop for dollar pizza that’s been sitting around for too long. Walking and eating, waiting for speeding cars to pass through crosswalks. We study restaurant menus downtown with couples and friends sharing cocktails over candlelight. Men standing on street corners offer us marijuana while the euros in my pocket jingle. Store owners shudder their facades and glance over books while their unsold pastries sleep in the fluorescence.

If you too were obsessed with Reese’s Cups (and still are), I recommend making these eclairs. Choux is fun to make, and pretty easy. The ganache is simple to make and to whip. And you achieve the most stunning, patisserie-worthy chocolate and peanut butter eclairs that almost resemble witches fingers. They are rich and deep in chocolate and peanut butter flavor, held within an airy pastry vessel. I’m excited for Halloween night. The costumes, friendships, couples, kids crying. It’s fun to try and see the world the same way we did as kids. To be open minded and eat as much candy as we want.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my paintings and recipes, be sure to check out my Etsy for 25% off my art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING. Happy Halloween!

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Peanut Chocolate Eclairs

A delicious eclair inspired by my favorite Halloween candy, peanut butter cups

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Keyword chocolate cake, chocolate eclairs, eclairs, peanut butter

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 10

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 8 oz dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup smooth PB
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup coffee
• 6 tbsp butter
• 2-3 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 eggs + 1 egg for wash
• 2 tbsp light cream
• Peanuts for garnish

Instructions

• In a large heatproof bowl, place your chopped up dark chocolate and peanut butter.
• In a medium saucepan, heat heavy whipping cream over medium-high heat until bubbling. Add 4 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, and espresso powder and whisk until melted.
• Pour over your chocolate and peanut butter mixture and wait for 1-2 minutes for the cream to melt the chocolate. Then, stir to combine with a whisk or spatula. Place ganache, covered, in the fridge to chill for at least 2-3 hours or until cool and firm.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• In a large stockpot, combine coffee, 6 tbsp butter, sugar, and 3/4 tsp salt. Cook over medium-high heat until bubbling, about 5-10 minutes.
• To your coffee mixture, add the flour and cocoa powder and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. The mixture should come together into a thick ball of dough. Cook for 2-3 minutes to remove the flour taste.
• Remove dough from heat and add to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is cool to the touch.
• Add your eggs, one at a time, incorporating each fully into the dough before adding the next. You will probably need all four, but the dough consistency should be thick enough to hold its shape but loose enough to form a V shape when hanging from the paddle.
• Transfer your choux dough into a large piping bag with no metal tip.
• Cut a hole in the tip of the piping bag, about 1″ from the tip, and pipe thick eclair shapes on parchment of silicon-lined baking sheets. They should be about 5-6″ long and should hold their shape when piped.
• Whisk together your last egg and light cream. Lightly brush the tops of the eclairs with your egg wash and place in the oven to bake.
• Bake eclairs for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 375°F and cook for 30 more minutes. After 30 minutes, rotate and bake for 5 more minutes. Leave them in the oven with the temperature off for a few more minutes to help hollow out the insides.
• Remove eclairs from oven and chill until room temperature. Poke 3 holes in the bottom of each eclair to let out steam.
• Once your ganache is firm and chilled, whip with a whisk or handheld mixer until the ganache becomes light and fluffy.
• Transfer ganache to a piping bag with a star tip. Slice off the tops of your eclairs (horizontally) to make thin little caps. Then, pipe your ganache generously on the insides of the eclair.
• Garnish with peanut slices and chocolate candies and dust the tops of your eclairs with powdered sugar.