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I recently tried Dubai chocolate for the first time after seeing it again and again on my FYP. My hunt for Dubai chocolate led me to Baklava House, a bakery near me that got a boost in popularity due to it being one of the only establishments in the Austin area that sells the “viral Dubai chocolate bars.” Like me, many reviewers say they discovered this “hidden gem” through their quest to try Dubai chocolate, which was created by Sarah Hamouda of Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai in 2021.
What is Dubai chocolate?
Dubai chocolate is a chocolate bar filled with kataifi pastry and pistachio cream. The kataifi pastry gives it a similar crunchy texture to one you would get with a Kit Kat bar, and the creamy pistachio-flavored filling makes the bar all the more complex. Hamouda told falstaff that was her intention.
She came up with Dubai chocolate through a pregnancy craving. “I was looking for something unique and fulfilling that I couldn’t find in typical desserts. I wanted to create chocolate bars that combined different textures and flavors, leading to the concept of ‘extra-filled’ bars that offer a satisfying and rich experience,” she said.
The viral Dubai chocolate strawberry cup
A new spin on Dubai chocolate is currently making the rounds on TikTok. And it takes Hamouda’s creation to a whole other level. The Dubai chocolate strawberry cup is a cup filled with layers of strawberries, chocolate, and a pistachio cream-kataifi pastry mixture.
Businesses are selling these fancy cups for over $20. So, naturally, people are opting to make them at home.
There are endless recipes for the Dubai chocolate strawberry cup online. I decided to follow the one shared to TikTok by Tineke “Tini” Younger. Younger is an influencer and chef who was mentored by Gordon Ramsay. Her recipes, like “Tini’s mac and cheese,” often go viral. So, I figured her take on the Dubai chocolate strawberry cup would be failproof. She also makes her pistachio cream from scratch, unlike most of the other recipes. And I was up for the added challenge.
Pistachio cream
This recipe took me an hour to complete. But you could probably shave that time in half by buying a jar of pre-made pistachio cream.
According to one TikTok, some Costco locations started carrying the Pisti Pistachio Cream for around $12 (that same jar costs more than double that if you purchase it through Amazon). Some TikTokers are also using Walmart’s Bettergoods Pistachio Nut Butter. And if you are feeling courageous enough to step into the snack aisle of your nearest T.J. Maxx, you may be able to find pistachio cream there.
Making the pistachio cream was the most time-consuming part of this whole process. But all you need to make it is pistachios, milk, white chocolate, and powdered sugar. So while more labor-intensive, it cuts out any additives and is probably more cost-effective, especially if you already have some of the ingredients on hand.
I started out by boiling a cup and a half of raw unsalted pistachios for 4 minutes. I then strained them, wrapped them in a dish towel, and rolled them around in the towel with my hands. This rolling process should take the brown pistachio skin off, leaving you with “naked,” vibrant green pistachios. You may still have to peel a few, though.
I then blended the pistachios until nicely chopped.
In a saucepan, I added one-fourth cup of whole milk and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Once melted, I mixed in 4 ounces of white chocolate morsels until they turned into a sauce. I added the white chocolate sauce to the pistachios and blended that together. Lastly, I added half a cup of whole milk and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar before blending once more to create the pistachio cream.
Kataifi pastry
Putting my pistachio cream aside for later, I moved onto the kataifi pastry. Like the pistachio cream, kataifi is a pretty elusive ingredient. I was able to find this popular Middle Eastern pastry at a nearby Mediterranean grocery store, Phoenicia Bakery & Deli. The recipe calls for dried kataifi, but I could only find frozen kataifi, leading to a soggier final product than I preferred. The kataifi should give this dessert a crispy/crunchy texture.
I thawed the frozen kataifi dough overnight and then cooked it in a pan with some butter on medium heat. This process only took a few minutes, as the kataifi browned pretty quickly. Then I combined the toasted, golden brown kataifi with the pistachio cream.
Dark chocolate ganache
Making the chocolate ganache was also pretty seamless. I put a cup of heavy cream in a pot until it steamed (be careful not to boil it) and then transferred that over to a bowl with one cup of dark chocolate morsels and whisked that up. You should be able to see a stream of non-clumpy chocolate sauce drip off your whisk when you pick it up.
Final result
Layering the strawberries, pistachio cream, and chocolate ganache in a cup was the fun part. I started off by adding pistachio cream to the bottom of my cup. Then I layered the chocolate ganache and a handful of quartered strawberries. I repeated that process several times.
Dubai chocolate strawberry cup ingredients:
- A quarter of a cup of raw, unsalted pistachios
- 4 ounces of white chocolate
- 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- Whole milk
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- Dried kataifi
- 1 cup of dark chocolate (you can also use regular chocolate)
- Strawberries
Difficulty rating: 6.5/10. Tini made the recipe look way easier than it actually was. That should have been expected. After all, she is a pro who can eyeball measurements. Meanwhile, I had to embarrassingly Google conversions for ounces. And despite Dubai chocolate’s popularity, some of the ingredients, like pistachio cream and dried kataifi, are still hard to come by.
Taste rating: I give the viral Dubai strawberry cup a 5/10. I totally understand the hype. It would be pretty hard to ruin a cup of strawberries and chocolate. I am a bit biased, though, because chocolate-covered strawberries are one of my favorite desserts. But at the same time, I do prefer straightforward chocolate-covered strawberries to this flavor-packed cup version.
Do I recommend this recipe? I do recommend this recipe and would even make it again myself, but with one catch. I’d buy pre-made pistachio cream next time. The pistachio cream itself was really good, and I’m glad I now know how to make it. But it was a tedious process, and once was enough for me.
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