How to Make a Dubai Chocolate Bar

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Time to learn how to make the world-famous and VIRAL Dubai chocolate bar at home. This has got to be my favorite chocolate bar to make and eat. It is seriously so good and such an indulgent treat! And the cool thing is that this homemade Dubai chocolate bar is really easy to make, although it is fairly expensive to make. Which makes sense, because it is expensive to buy at the store. Expect to spend $20 to $40 for these bars if you are buying them. But instead of buying them, let’s make them at home!

Ingredients

To make Dubai chocolate at home, you need just a handful of ingredients, some of which may have to be bought online, depending on where you live. You will need:

• Chocolate – You can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate, in the form of chocolate chips or chocolate bars. Just use your favorite chocolate!
• Kataifi – This is simply shredded phyllo dough or filo pastry. Buy online or at Middle Eastern grocery stores.
• Pistachio Paste or pistachio cream – This is the star of the filling. If you don’t want to buy it, you can make your own by grinding up pistachios into a paste or butter.
• Tahini – The tahini adds a little bit of extra flavor to the filling, but it is optional.
• Butter – I use unsalted butter, but you can use salted. This is for toasting the kataifi.
• Different colors of candy melts – This will be used to make the design that shows on top of the Dubai chocolate bar.

NOTE: All of the amounts will be found below in the printable recipe card. Keep scrolling to find it or click the “Jump to Recipe” above, right under the first image, to go right to it.

Tools/Equipment

• Deep chocolate mold – I always use silicone chocolate molds. I have so many of them, haha.
• Bowl, medium or large bowl
• Spatula
• Pastry bags, optional; you can use sandwich bags too.
• Thermometer, optional, only needed if you want to temper the chocolate.
• Skillet

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How to Make a Dubai Chocolate Bar at Home

Make the design first. Most Dubai chocolate bars have some sort of fun, colorful design on top of the chocolate bar. Take any color of candy melts or chocolate wafers that you want. Usually, I just buy the Wilton brand of candy melts. They are pretty cheap at Walmart for small bags.

I like to melt them right in the microwaveable pastry bag; it just makes it super convenient, but you can do this with the double boiler method too if you wish. Use bursts of 20 seconds, and then smoosh the bag in your hands, keep doing that until it is runny. Snip off the tip, and you are ready to go.

Drizzle the design on the bottom of the mold, which becomes the top of the chocolate bar. Make sure to use a deep chocolate bar mold, like the one listed in the ingredients section above.

It is up to you how many colors you use, but I recommend not using more than 3 colors. And try to pick bright colors that show up nicely on chocolate.

After the design is created, place the mold/s in the fridge so the design can set; it only takes 10 to 15 minutes. You should be able to get 2 large chocolate bars from this recipe. But depending on the size of your molds will depend on how many Dubai bars you can make.

Make the filling

While the design is firming up, make the filling. The distinct filling is what sets the Dubai chocolate bar apart from other candy bars. It is nutty, full of pistachio flavor, and has a great crunch and texture from the kataifi.

Melt butter in a medium skillet using medium heat. Next, add the kataifi. You may need to cut the kataifi into smaller pieces; it just depends. The type I buy is already shredded and dry, and in small pieces.

Keep stirring and toast the kataifi until it is lightly golden brown.

Pour the shredded toasted crispy kataifi into a medium bowl and then add the pistachio paste and the tahini. Give it a good stir until well combined. The Dubai chocolate bar filling is ready to go.

To Temper or Not to Temper the Chocolate

Time to melt the chocolate. You can use whatever chocolate you want, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and it can be the chocolate chips or chocolate bars. If you love the Symphony chocolate bars, use that; if you love the 85% dark chocolate Lindt bars, use those. Or maybe you want to use homemade chocolate that you made from cacao beans, shown in this chocolate-making tutorial. In the above image, I am using Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips.

It is up to you if you temper the chocolate or not. If you don’t want to take the time, and if you will be storing the Dubai chocolate in the fridge anyway, don’t bother with tempering the chocolate. Just melt all the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave or use the double boiler method.

But if you would like to temper the chocolate, follow these steps:

1. Divide the chocolate into two separate bowls. One with 2/3 of the chocolate and another with the remaining 1/3 of the chocolate, which will be used as “seeding.”
2. Add a pot to the burner, set to medium heat, along with 1 inch of water. Place the bowl on top of the pot and make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. As the water heats, the steam will warm the bowl and gently melt the chocolate.
3. Heat the chocolate, while stirring, to 105°F to 110°F (40 to 43°C) for milk chocolate and 113 to 120°F (45 to 48 °C) for dark chocolate.
4. Remove it from the heat and add the remaining third of chocolate chips, this is called “seeding.” Stir and stir until the temperature goes down to 79 to 80°F (26 °C) for milk chocolate and 80 to 84°F (26 to 28 °C) for dark chocolate.
5. Then reheat the chocolate to 85°F (29°C) for milk chocolate and 88 to 90°F (31 to 32°C) for dark chocolate.

The tempered chocolate is ready to go. But again, you don’t have to temper the chocolate if you don’t want to, especially if you want to store the bars in the fridge until eating them.

TIP: If the chocolate is not melting thin enough, you can add a little bit of coconut oil or shortening to it.

Assemble the Dubai Chocolate Bars

Now let’s assemble these homemade Dubai chocolate bars. Pour some chocolate into the mold and cover the design, spread it out evenly, and make sure to get it on the sides. Use a spatula, pastry brush, or the back of a spoon to spread it out. Once done, place it in the fridge to set for 5 to 10 minutes or so, to form the top of the chocolate shell.

Once hardened, add the pistachio mixture on top and spread it out. Make sure not to add too much, you need to leave room for the top layer of chocolate, which becomes the bottom of the Dubai bar.

Now, just pour the remaining melted chocolate on top of the filling and spread it out with a normal spatula or cake spatula. Scrape off any excess chocolate. Place the chocolate bar in the fridge and let it set for about 30 minutes or so to harden.

Completed Homemade Dubai Chocolate Bar

Remove the chocolate bars from the fridge and then gently remove them from the silicone candy bar molds. Now bask in its glory. Look how big that chocolate bar is, and it is super heavy too, almost as much as a baby, okay well not that much, haha.

Break that viral chocolate bar in half to see the inside. Give it a taste! So yummy. I usually will store these in the fridge and cut them into squares, getting 10 servings for each bar or about 20 total servings across two very large Dubai chocolate bars. Enjoy!

How long will the Dubai chocolate last?

They will last 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container. You can also freeze them for 2 to 3 months. But they can also last much longer than that, especially if the chocolate is tempered, the shelf life can range up to 12 months. But not in my house, and I live alone, they last under 5 days lol. I eat one or two squares a day.

Here are a few other related chocolate recipes you may like:

Homemade Snickers

Homemade Twix Bars

How to Make Milk Chocolate with Cocoa Powder

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