How To Make Yogurt Taste Like Dubai's Viral Chocolate Candy Bar

The popularity of Dubai chocolate is hard to miss. From Crumbl's Dubai chocolate brownie to Lindt's Dubai style chocolate bar, this candy has truly taken the world by storm. The candy was first introduced to customers in 2022 by Fix Dessert Chocolatiers, a company that is located in Dubai. Made from a milk chocolate shell, the chocolate bar is filled with three simple ingredients: pistachio cream, tahini, and kataifi, a shredded type of phyllo that gives this dessert its signature crunch. And while there are plenty of different iterations of this sweet that you can find in stores, and even more recipes for making a few bars of your own at home, this symphony of flavors and textures can extend far beyond the chocolate bar format.

There are many unexpected foods getting the Dubai chocolate treatment, and one particularly apt medium for it is yogurt. With a few simple tricks, you can turn yogurt into a Dubai chocolate experience. This yogurt hack has some traction on TikTok, where users are showing off their own unique recipes. To make your own, simply add a small amount of cocoa powder (depending on your taste and the amount of yogurt used) to pre-sweetened yogurt. In a separate bowl, mix pistachio cream, a dash of tahini, and kataifi. Layer this mixture on top of your chocolate yogurt. Then, melt chocolate in a bowl and pour it on top of your yogurt before placing it in the fridge until the chocolate has re-solidified. Et voila! You have a perfect, creamy, crunchy bowl of dessert that you can enjoy at any time of day!

Of course, there is not just one way of turning your yogurt into a Dubai chocolate delight. So if you're short an ingredient or want a different balance of flavors, don't despair: you can still bring this dish to life. Let's say you're short on pistachio cream, or can't find any in a pinch. You can always get a similar flavor using a pistachio pudding mix (the same kind you might use in, say, Watergate salad or its fluffy cousin, the Watergate cake). Just add one tablespoon of pudding mix per cup of yogurt. This will give you a great nutty flavor base for your bowl. If you do use pudding mix, you might want to go for an unsweetened yogurt, as pudding mix is already quite sweet.

If you're short on kataifi, you can use a crunchy cereal like Rice Krispies or, if you want the crunch with a bit more flavor, you can mix in some toasted shredded coconut. If you want a slightly different flavor profile, try using white chocolate as your topper. This sweet, creamy chocolate (yes, white chocolate is actually chocolate) will pair beautifully with the nuttiness of pistachio cream. If you want something similar to Dubai chocolate but don't like pistachio, you can also use peanut butter, hazelnut spread, or even macadamia butter to mix with your kataifi. The world is your nut, you might as well take a crack at it (with a spoon, of course).