My Favorite Recipes Collection: Famous Dubai Pistachio Chocolate Bars Recipe with Homemade Pistachio butter/cream: My adapted version

The credit goes to My dear friend Sulu for introducing me to this delicious chocolate bar. Last month she texted me asking me if I have tried Dubai chocolate, I had not heard of it so I did not pay any attention. Then I happened to go to a middle eastern grocery store and saw the small 100-gram bar for $12.00, half the size of picture of my bar on left. I became curious and asked my friend, and she gave me a bar that she had made for me to try. I took bite of it and unfortunately the corner bite did not have much filling, so I did not think much of it. Then when I gave the rest of bar to our son and my husband, and I too tried from the middle it had enough filling me to hit my taste buds, and I asked her if I can watch it when she is making it again, and so I did. She had bought the pistachio butter from Amazon which was pretty good, and dark chocolate chips discs. I bought the same pistachio butter and was thinking of buying the chocolate chips disc and then it came to me that I love Choceur dark chocolate bar from Aldi and why not make out of that, our son wanted milk chocolate and not dark chocolate so I made with both, while my friend was going to buy expensive dark chocolate from online to make this bar. Which I am sure worth making. However, I wanted to keep it simple so that I can make it again easily. Now here is some info on this famous Dubai chocolate bar.

Dubai chocolate is a chocolate bar with a filling made of kadayif and pistachio. It was first created by Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai in 2021, branded as Can't Get Knafeh of It. This product became popular in 2023 after being promoted by influencers on social media. Fix stands for "Freakin' Incredible eXperience". Fix Dessert Chocolatier was founded in Dubai in 2021 by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian entrepreneur. She aimed to create chocolate bars that combined unique textures and flavors, focusing on the filling to set her company apart from competitors. She was inspired by her pregnancy cravings to make the Dubai chocolate. The Dubai chocolate was originally sold under the name "Can't Get Knafeh of It" and is still sold by that name by Fix Dessert Chocolatier.

Dubai chocolate is produced as a flat chocolate bar weighing around 100 grams. The chocolate bar is made of crispy Kadayif or Kataifii, pistachio and tahini paste encased in milk chocolate. Kataifi pastry is filo pastry made into fine strings so that it resembles vermicelli noodles or shredded wheat. Kataifi pastry is used in the delicious middle easterm dessert Knafeh. The Dubai chocolate Bar has taken the world by storm and if you're lucky to try it then you'll know how utterly delicious it is! A filling of crunchy toasted kataifi pastry is smothered in pistachio cream and tahini and then enrobed in rich chocolate But did you know that you can make this version at home yourself (it's actually pretty straightforward!). Dubai chocolate first gained widespread popularity when on December 18, 2023, an influencer under the username mariavehera257 posted a video on TikTok showing her eating various types of chocolate from Fix Dessert Chocolatier, including the Dubai chocolate. A year later, the video had garnered over 100 million views, and several other influencers also created videos of themselves

eating the chocolate. Complex production methods and increasing demand drove up prices. This led to individuals buying Dubai chocolate in bulk from shops and producers and then reselling it on the secondary market at a much higher margin. There have been reports of burglary to get the chocolate bars. Cases of chocolate bar smuggling have been reported. In October 2024, smugglers were caught twice within a few days by Austrian customs, smuggling around 2,540 bars of 200 grams (7 oz) each across the border without paying customs duty. In November 2024, a smuggler tried to bring 45 kilograms (100 lb) of Dubai chocolate across the border near Weil am Rhein. Quickly after the Fix video went viral, people started to create their own versions. Frequently influencers created Dubai Chocolate in their kitchen and often claimed to be the inventor. The frequency of counterfeit and copycat instances grew so much that the original brand published several statements that they only are available on Deliveroo in the United Arab Emirates. In addition to Fix Dessert Chocolatier, large scale manufacturers such as Lindt began to produce and market them as Dubai Chocolate. In Germany, an importer of a copycat Fix Dubai Chocolate issued a Cease-and desist letter to the manufacturer Lindt, Aldi and Lidl because it did not produce in Dubai. While geographical indications are in principle protectable under the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, the United Arab Emirates has not signed the agreement. The cease-and-desist letter was not successful as many Dubai chocolates are still available in German supermarkets. There have been no court rulings as of December 2024. According to most legal scholars, the term "Dubai chocolate" is already a generic in the EU market and does not contain any geographical indication

So, the recipe posted here is by no mean my recipe, I just wanted to create something close to the original Dubai chocolate, which I still have to try.

I took some ideas from my dear friends and talk to one of my friends Lourda who is from Lebanon and also makes this at home and then searched online and came up with this version of my adapted recipe from all the information I gathered, not sure how close it to the original one but tasted pretty darn good. I shared the chocolate with my coworkers, friends and family and they all loved it. There is no way I am going to buy a small bar for $12.00 from the local middle eastern store, which is not even wrapped in any wrapper, so I am not even sure if it is the original bar from Fix Dessert Chocolatier.

So, I compartmentalized the recipe and decided to make it two or three days getting all the ingredients ready. First, I tried with Amazon bought pistachio butter and did some trial and error. Then decided to make my own pistachio butter from a recipe online, which I adapted to my version with the ingredients that I had. I will give you recipe for the pistachio butter first and then will show you how to prep the shredded dough and finally how to put it all together. You have to be patient to make this chocolate bars, so my suggestion is getting all the ingredients ready over two days and finally put it all together when you are relaxed and composed :) to melt the chocolate and put it all together in molds of your choice. I like the chocolate bars that Aldi's sells, which is Choceur dark chocolate with 49% cocoa and not bitter, I also used their milk chocolate bar as our son prefers the milk chocolate, you can use any I am sure you can make it out of white chocolate too. I used white chocolate morsels to give the designs on top of the bar and to make pistachio butter.

First, I am going to post the recipe for how I made the pistachio butter or cream. If you do not desire to make the pistachio butter, it is available in local grocery stores and on Amazon, the picture that I have of jar is pretty good quality and it was $26.00 for 600 gms (it is an Italian brand)

Remember this recipe looks long but you don't have to all this in one day. Spread it doing them over 2-3 days before you finally put the chocolate bar together, it will be more fun that way.

Ingredients for Pistachio butter / cream:

* 1 cup of shelled pistachios, I used Costco's roasted salted pistachios, but you can used unsalted and roast them slightly.
I used salted because when you boil them in hot water to take the shells out the salt comes off any ways.
* 3/4 cup of evaporated milk
* 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter melted
* 1 cup of white chocolate morsels
* 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar
* 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup of dry milk powder.

Method to make Pistachio Butter/cream:

* Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil and add the shelled pistachios.

* Let them boil for 5 min, then drain them and place them on a towel.

* Fold the towel over wand rub the pistachios gently to loosen the skin.

* Separate the pistachios from the skin and the soak them in warm water and gently rub them with your hands the skin would float on water and discard the skin and water, repeat the process of soaking them in water and rubbing them with skin till all the skin comes off, then do the final wash drain.

* Add the pistachio to the food processor and with 1/4 cup of evaporated milk, and 1 teaspoon if powdered sugar and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

* Grind and blitz around for 5 min until the pistachio turn into smooth paste.

* You will need to stop the food processor 3-4 time to scrape the sides.

* You will notice that pistachio turn into crumbs first then should turn into a ball, when it has reached the paste consistency.

* Put the remaining evaporated milk (1/2 cup), butter and white chocolate in a clean saucepan and heat on a low heat until melted, set aside.

* Transfer this melted smooth mixture in the food processor with pistachio paste and blitz until extra smooth and creamy.

* Add the milk powder and start the food processor the make everything smooth.

* You can adjust the consistency with adding more evaporated milk.

* This pistachio butter/cream will keep in fridge for 2 wks.

* Besides using it to make this chocolate you can use the pistachio butter/ cream for other recipes.

* Some of my favorite use of this is to spread it on toast, make smoothies, use it as frosting on cupcakes, or use it in salad dressings. I am sure you can find tons of ways to use this online.

Now I will show you how to prepare crispy Kadayif or Kataifii Pastry dough for filling:

* These packs are available in any middle eastern grocery store. There are several brands, I prefer Athens Shredded Phyllo dough.

* It comes in 16 oz box. I made it in two batches, first one with store bought pistachio cream and second time I made it with homemade pistachio cream. I cut it into half and put the other one in freezer.

* One half of the box ( 8 ozs) makes 4 cups of shredded crispy Kataifii.

* You will also need 4 tablespoon of melted unsalted butter.

* Basically you take the shredded dough apart with hands first and then cut it with scissors in small strands and separate them.

* Preheat the oven at 350 F

* Place the shredded dough that has been taken apart on a tray lined with parchment paper.

* Pour melted butter over it and mix with finger so all the strands are coated with butter.

* Separate all the strands that are stuck together.

* Put the tray with the dough in oven and bake it of 10 min.

* Take the tray out in 10 min then again mix them carefully with spatula flipping it over and separating all the strands that are stuck together,

* Put it back in oven and bake it for 8-10 min,

* Make sure you stay near by and monitor, you just need them to be golden brown and not burnt.

* If you don't want to do this oven you can do this on stove top in a skillet.

* Heat the skillet on stove on medium heat, add butter coated chopped Kataifii strands.

* Cook the Kataifii for few min while continuously mixing until golden brown.

* Turn the heat off and set aside.

* For me both the time I made this chocolate the over method worked really well, but it is up to you.

* If you are not making the chocolate same day, let it cool and place it in a air tight container until you are ready to make the chocolate.

How to put it all together

Once you have every thing ready to put the chocolates together you will need following ingredients:

* 6-8 150 grams of Choceur chocolate bars dark or milk chocolate.

* 1/4 cup of while chocolate for decoration (this is optional)

* Oil based candy food coloring

* Coconut oil to put in chocolate when melting in microwave for shine, lusture and tempering

* 4 cups of prepared Kataifiie pastry

* 2 cups of pistachio cream 2.5 cups if you like more creamy filling

* Different shapes and size of silicon molds.

* Few metal trays to place the silicon mold in fridge so they don't bend.

* Chopped pistachio for topping on other side of chocolate if you desire, this is what I did, but Dubai chocolate does not have this.

* What you do first is take few morsels of white chocolate and melt them in a small microwave safe bowl for 30 sec, mix it then put it back in microwave again 30 min sec, make sure it is all note melted but melt as you mix them.

* Add few drops of desired color in bowl in different places and drizzle it in bottom of silicone molds.

* Do different colors and pattern.

* You can just do mint green or pistachio green color with zig zag design.

* Remember this will be top of the chocolate bar.

If you are not in to food coloring, you can totally skip this step.

Put the molds with colored design with white chocolate drizzle on metal trays on place them in fridge for 10-15 min while you prepare the filling.

Mix kataifii dough, pistachio butter and tahini in a bowl evenly.

Set aside.

Now you can temper the chocolate in following manner.

Chop the chocolate bars in small pieces in a microwave safe bowl, one or two bars at a time.

Add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil.

Melt the chocolate in Microwave at 30 sec intervals until half of the chocolate is melted, leaving some chunks.

Remove from microwave stir until fully melted for a glossy and snappy temper.

Pour the melted chocolate inside the decorated silicone mold to desired thickness and less than half depth.

Tap the mold with melted chocolate to get all the bubbles out and spreading it evenly.

Put the molds back with chocolate in it on metal trays and put them in the fridge for 10-15 min.

* Once the first layer of cholate is set. you can evenly spread the pistachio cream and Kataifii filling, keeping it slightly away from edges, or you can put space the edges with knife.

* Melt the chocolate and temper it like you did before and start pouring from edges to center again to desired thickness and making sure the edges are sealed.

* Tap the mold filled with chocolate to spread it melted chocolate evenly and get all the bubbles out.

* Sprinkle some crushed pistachios on some of them if you desire.

* Again place the molds on metal trays in place them in fridge until totally set.

* Gently take it out of mold and Enjoy !!

I am sorry it was a lengthy posts with lots of pics, I am sure there are some typos and grammatical errors. I apologize, it took more time to type than making the chocolate.

The reason for it being such a lengthy post is that I wanted to combine the recipes for pistachio cream and how to prep the Kataifii dough and how to put everything together. You can just print the recipe with print option below without pics. You can buy the readymade pistachio cream. Anyways you make it, it is totally worth making it and you can adjust it to your taste, thick or thin layers of chocolate, with dark or milk chocolate, with different size of molds. Some of the molds come with 100 bags to put the chocolates bars in.. It can make a wonderful delicious gift for various occasions: Like Valentine's day which is just around the corner, Mother's day, Thanks giving, Christmas or Birthdays.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Enjoy making this chocolate and devour your taste buds.