If you've spent any time online in the past few months, chances are you've encountered the latest viral dessert trend: Dubai Chocolate. Inspired by the pregnancy cravings of an at-home chocolatier, the pairing of chocolate and classic Indian flavors has since exploded in popularity.
While the trend continues to grow every day, many people, especially in smaller cities, struggle to find a bar to sample. Luckily, the infamous candy bar is not hard to recreate or repurpose, even for beginners.
Dubai Chocolate is a type of candy bar with a pistachio filling. The filling is made by mixing pistachio cream and kataifi, which is a type of Middle Eastern shredded phyllo dough. When mixed together, the two ingredients form a creamy paste that is often used to fill the milk or dark chocolate bars.
How can I recreate Dubai Chocolate at home?
To recreate Dubai Chocolate at home you need a few key ingredients: milk chocolate, pistachio cream and kataifi. While milk chocolate and kataifi can be purchased in advance, either from local grocery stores or online markets, pistachio cream can also be bought or made at home with a little more ease.
To make pistachio cream, blend pistachios and powdered sugar into a dust before blending in melted white chocolate. Melted butter or milk can be used to help achieve the desired consistency of the cream.
Once the cream is made and cooled, mix it with the kataifi pastry for a quick and easy homemade Dubai Chocolate filling. From there, the filling can be used to make chocolate bars or snacks using whatever molds you prefer. Or if you’re a little more adventurous, the filling can be used to make new variations of the viral Dubai Chocolate recipe.
For example, for the pastry fan in your life, try making a batch of Dubai Chocolate brownies by layering some pistachio cream and kataifi mixture on top of your favorite baked brownies. Pour some melted chocolate on top and let them cool before cutting.
If you’re planning a romantic weekend, strawberries are a must, and Dubai Chocolate strawberries have recently become a popular play on the dessert as well. All it takes to create one is spreading a layer of the pistachio cream mix on the strawberry before dipping it in chocolate. These have also been trending as parfait with strawberries, pistachio cream mix, and melted chocolate layered repeatedly inside plastic cups or glasses.
With such simple, versatile ingredients, it’s easy to see people combining this trend with anything from donuts and croissants to milkshakes and lattes. If you can imagine it, it’s probably doable and would taste just as good.
While many food trends are often fleeting, for now, the Dubai Chocolate craze appears to be gaining more and more traction. It may not be for everyone, but to make that distinction, you’ll have to try it and see for yourself!