If you think Dubai chocolate is too expensive and/or you’ve never had it, you need to try making this at home right, right now.
Dubai chocolate has been having a moment for a long time now. Did you know you can make it at home? It’s a little bit of a process but easier than you think.
Surprisingly, I never was particularly interested in it; I’m not sure why some things have me locked in obsessed while others are never on my radar. Anyway, the other day my brain (and okay, my endless doomscrolling) got me on video after video of Dubai chocolate. After 10 minutes (okay it was more but I have time blindness) I was convinced. I NEEDED Dubai chocolate in my life.
Sure, I could go out and order some or *GASP* go to the source in Dubai, but as the olds like to say, “we have Dubai chocolate at home.” Follow me on my kinda-long-journey – don’t worry I’ll try to keep it kind of short – on making homemade Dubai chocolate.
What is Dubai chocolate?
First off, what the heck is Dubai chocolate? Dubai chocolate is type of filled chocolate bar created by Emirati Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai. Essentially, it’s a milk chocolate bar with a filling of sweet pistachio and tahini cream mixed with finely chopped knafeh.
Experience and taste-wise, Dubai chocolate is sweet and crunchy with a roasted nuttiness from the pistachios and tahini. Flavor-wise, it may be pretty classic, but adding in the crispy knafeh was a genius move on Chef Omamalin.
The anatomy of a Dubai chocolate bar
- Exterior – the outside of the original Dubai chocolate bar is milk chocolate, but now it comes in dark and white varieties. The different varieties have different colored chocolate artfully splattered on the surface, kind of like edible Jackson Pollock paintings.
- Interior – the insides of a Dubai chocolate bar are a creamy pistachio green with visible strands of crispy kadyif. Breaking into a Dubai chocolate bar is an experience: you get the classic look of a standard chocolate bar on the outside with a unique texture and flavor on the inside.
How to make Dubai chocolate at home
- Make the kadayif – you can skip this step if you have fresh or dried kadayif. If you want to try making your own, check out the instructions after this section.
- Toast the kadayif – Melt a bit of butter over low heat in a large non-stick pan with high sides. When melted, add the chopped kadayif. Stir and toast, until the kadayif is deeply golden, about 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring and take your time. Patience is key, you want everything evenly toasted. When the kadayif is golden, remove it from the pan and let it cool.
- Temper the chocolate – Put an inch of water into a small pot and place on the stove over low heat. Place a heat-proof bowl on top (make sure the bowl is big enough to hover over the water, you don’t want the bottom of the bowl to touch) and add two-thirds of your chopped chocolate. Stir the chocolate until smooth and melted, then carefully take the bowl off the pot and add the remaining chocolate. Stir all the chocolate together until it’s smooth and shiny.
- Make the chocolate shell – Add some of the chocolate to your chocolate bar molds and tip and swirl the chocolate so it coats the bottom, sides, and corners. Tip out any excess chocolate back into your bowl. Put the chocolate mold into the fridge or freezer to set.
- Mix the filling – While the chocolate shell is setting, mix up the filling. In a large bowl, stir together the pistachio cream, tahini, and salt. Fold in the toasted kadayif.
- Fill the chocolate bar – Add the filling to the chocolate shells, about three-quarters of the way up, spreading the filling evenly.
- Seal the chocolate bar – Remelt the chocolate, if needed, the pour onto the bars, smoothing out and sealing the filling inside.
- Let set – Place the chocolate bars in the fridge or freezer until the chocolate sets and is hard.
- Enjoy! – Carefully unmould the chocolate and enjoy!
Homemade kadayif
If you want to make your own kadayif, simply sift together flour, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt. Whisk in water and a touch of oil. When the batter is super smooth, add it to a piping bag with a very small tip. Heat a large non-stick pan over low and drizzle the batter in a circle or zig-zag motion, being careful to not overlap the “noodles”. When the batter pulls away from the pan, it’s done. Scoop it up and place it in a bowl. Repeat until all the batter is finished, then roughly chop the kadayif into 1-inch pieces.
Dubai chocolate ingredients
- chocolate – chocolate bars need chocolate. It’s up to you what percent chocolate you want to use. The famous Dubai chocolate bar is milk chocolate, but since I LOVE dark chocolate, I went with that, specifically the Callebaut 811 dark chocolate. Whichever chocolate you decide to use, make sure you use a high-quality chocolate, preferably a high-quality couverture chocolate. Couverture chocolate is
- pistachio cream – The roasted nuttiness of pistachio is amazing with chocolate. For this chocolate bar, we’re going to use pistachio cream, which is a sweetened version of pistachio paste. Pistachio cream compared to pistachio paste is smoother, creamier, more fluid, and sweeter. Pistachio paste is usually used as a filling for pastries or topping for pastries and confections like this chocolate bar. You can find it online, at specialty grocery stores or sometimes even at Costco.
- tahini – a bit of tahini, a sesame paste that contains hulled with sesame seeds. It’s a core Middle Eastern condiment and ingredient that adds a delicious roast-y nutty flavor to everything it touches. Tahini is pretty common and you’ll find it in the natural foods section of the grocery store where you find nut butters and other organic condiments.
- kadayif – this can be store-bought or home-made. If you live in an area with Middle Eastern grocery stores, you’ll probably be able to find it, but if you can’t, you can easily make it at home, recipe and how-to below! You can also purchase it online.
- butter and salt – we’re going to use a bit of butter to toast the kadayif so it becomes extra crunchy and golden brown and we’re going to need a pinch of salt to balance out all the sweetness and make the pistachio and tahini pop.
Equipment needed to make Dubai chocolate at home
- deep chocolate bar molds – I used these molds and they work perfectly. They’re nice and deep and demold easily.
- double-boiler – this is just a fancy way to say a small pot with a bowl on top so you can melt your chocolate. Add about 1 inch of water to a small pot and add a heat-proof bowl on top. Make sure that the bowl can sit on the rim of the pot without touching the water.
- silicone spatula and off-set spatula – technically you don’t need these items but they’ll probably help. The silicone spatula is great for stirring chocolate while it’s melting and the off-set spatula is great for smoothing out and evenly spreading the filling and chocolate.
What does Dubai chocolate taste like?
Now that I’ve tasted it, I’m obsessed. I didn’t get it before, but I do now. Flavor wise, you get a hint of depth from the dark chocolate, a deep toasted nuttiness from the tahini and a sweet creaminess from the pistachio paste. The whole bar is a nice balance of sweet and salty. Kadayif on its own has a pretty mild flavor, so it’s more about the texture and the fact that it can take on a lot of flavor without getting soggy. That makes it perfect for stirring into a creamy filling. The pastel green crispy-crunchy creaming filling is not too sweet and pairs perfectly with the snappiness of a good dark chocolate. If you like nutty chocolate, chocolate with things in it or texture in your chocolate bars, you are going to love Dubai chocolate.
Can’t get knafeh of it
Dubai chocolate hit peak popularity in 2024 on TikTok due to the duo of the AMSR crunch and vibrant and fluffy pistachio knafeh filling. Plus, the literal fact that it was only available in Dubai made it even more appealing. When I say this chocolate bar had influencers in a chokehold, I’m not exaggerating. People were literally flying to Dubai to get their hands on a chocolate bar.
Now, Dubai chocolate has taken over the world and “Dubai chocolate” is synonymous with a pistachio-tahini kadayif filling. You can get Dubai inspired chocolate everywhere, from your local artisanal chocolatier to Lindt, Costco, and Amazon.
What is knafeh?
The bulk of the filling of Dubai chocolate is knafeh, a traditional Arab dessert that’s sweet and crunchy made with kadayif, cheese, and a sweet simple syrup called attar. Knafeh hits it all: sweet, salty, creamy, crispy-crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Cleverly, Dubai chocolate’s original name was “Can’t Get Knafeh of It.” That being said, most homemade bars have kadayif instead of knafeh because Emirati Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai now makes many kinds of Dubai chocolate and the most popular and easiest one to make at home is “Dubai Pisatachio” which has kadayif instead of knafeh.
What is kadayif?
Kadayif is a kind of pastry that looks like fine noodles. If you know what filo dough is, it’s similar to that but shredded thinly. It’s an essential ingredient in a ton of Middle Eastern pastries and desserts. In the Middle East, it’s sold in grocery stores and is pretty common in the frozen pastry section, pretty much the equivalent of where you’d find frozen pie crusts and puff pastry in North America. It looks raw when you buy it but it’s completely cooked, just not toasted. At home, you can either make your own (more on that below), but it at a Middle Eastern grocery store, or attempt to shred filo dough. I think they’re going to start selling kadayif at mainstream grocery stores though, that’s how popular Dubai chocolate is!
Knafeh vs. kadayif
Simply put, knafeh is a dessert and kadayif is an essential ingredient in the dessert. Think of it like shredded coconut and coconut macaroons. Just like you need shredded coconut to make the coconut macaroons, you need kadayif to make knafeh. For the purposes of the Dubai chocolate bar thought, you’ll just need kadayif (the ingredient), not knafeh (the dessert).
Dubai chocolate tips and tricks
- Take your time to toast – the whole point of Dubai chocolate is the crispy crunchy filling so take your time to toast the kadayif. Do it on low, stir it regularly and make sure it isn’t too pale or burnt. Letting it cool completely before mixing it in with the pistachio paste and tahini helps it stay crunchy.
- Temper your chocolate – this is a fancy way of saying melt the chocolate so it sets properly so your chocolate bar isn’t melty when you eat it. To temper chocolate, melt two-thirds of your chocolate, then move the bowl away from the heat and stir in the remaining one-third of the chocolate. Using some unmelted chocolate to cool down the melted chocolate helps it set faster and makes it easier to pour and work with.
Whew, that was long but hopefully so worth it! Mike and I both have decided that Dubai chocolate is amazing and I’m glad I made so many of them while I was perfecting the recipe for this post. I hope you try it too!
xoxo steph
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 batch kadayif about 2 cups chopped, see recipe below
- 1/2 lb dark chocolate chopped
- 3/4 cup pistachio cream
- 1.5 tbsp tahini
- 1 pinch of salt
Special Equipment
- 1 chocolate mold
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large non-stick pan over low heat. When melted, add the roughly chopped kadayif and stir. Toast the kadayif until deeply golden and crunchy, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes depending on the heat of your stove. Keep an eye on it and don’t forget to stir at regular intervals so the kadayif toasts evenly. When toasted, remove from the pan and let cool.
- While the kadayif is cooling, melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler. Add an inch of water to a small pot and place it on the stove. Place a larger, heat-proof bowl into the pot - the rim of the pot should support the bowl so that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Place two-thirds of the chopped chocolate in the bowl and turn the heat on to low. Stir the chocolate with a silicone spatula to encourage even melting.
- When the chocolate is smooth and melted, carefully remove it from the double boiler and add the remaining chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is smooth.
- If desired, optionally melt white chocolate and color with oil-based green food coloring. Gently splatter into the chocolate bar mold before adding the chocolate for the shell.
- Add about 1/4 cup of melted chocolate (per bar) to the chocolate bar mold and tip the mold to spread the chocolate evenly across the bottom, sides, and corners. Pour out any excess chocolate back into your bowl of melted chocolate and scrape off any excess with an offset spatula. Let the chocolate set completely by chilling in the fridge or freezer until hard.
- While the chocolate is setting, make the filling. Add the pistachio cream, tahini, and a pinch of salt to a large bowl. Mix until smooth then fold in the toasted kadayif until completely combined.
- Take the chocolate bar mold and fill evenly with the pistachio filling to about 3/4 way up the mold.
- Gently remelt the chocolate then evenly pour over the filling, using an offset spatula to spread evenly. Place the chocolate bars in the fridge or freezer to set completely.
- Unmold and enjoy!
Notes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 cup water
- Sift the flour and cornstarch together in a bowl and stir in the salt.
- Add the water and oil and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the batter through a fine mesh sieve into a liquid measuring glass.
- Place a piping bag into a tall glass, flowing over the edge of the piping bag. Pour the batter into the piping bag.
- Heat up a large non-stick pan on extra low heat. Cut a very small tip into your piping bag then pipe strands of batter onto the pan in a zig-zag or circular motion, trying not to overlap the strands. The kadayif is ready when it starts to lift from the pan. It will be soft, pale and pliable. Use a spatula to remove it from the pan and place it on a plate covered with a slightly damp towel to keep it from drying out. Pipe and cook until the batter is finished.
