This easy DIY Dubai chocolate dessert was an accidental discovery.  I love when those things happen!  I was invited to a potluck dinner and was responsible for bringing dessert.  I was not in the mood to be baking or spending a lot of time making a dessert and quite frankly, hadn't thought much about the dessert.  So, I had no idea what to make.  I decided to create something from whatever I had in the house and that was going to be dessert!  I found some frozen Kataifi, chocolate chips and ice cream.  I also happened to have some pistachio creme in my pantry and voila! A DIY dubai chocolate dessert! It was SO easy and really fun to bring over.  Everyone made their own Dubai chocolate dessert and it was a definite hit.  I highly recommend trying this dessert the next time you have company over.  I guarantee you, they will love it!

Dubai chocolate has recently become a social media craze.  The characteristics of a Dubai chocolate, besides its high price, is the sweet pistachio filling and the crunchy kataifi.  This deconstructed easy DIY Dubai chocolate dessert allows your guests to make their own with all the essential ingredients plus more!

Tips for making easy DIY Dubai Chocolate dessert

Kataifi

Kataifi is shredded phillo pastry.  It resembles angel hair pasta. I like using the frozen kind that's found in middle eastern grocery stores and some mainstream supermarkets.  You can buy some already toasted, but I prefer baking my own as I can add the melted, salted butter which gives it an interesting taste with the sweet from the chocolate.

For the kataifi, you can just bake the shreds and break it up into smaller pieces and allow your guests to add however much they want. Otherwise, you can form the raw kataifi into individual nests for each person.

Make the kataifi ahead of time and store it in an airtight container.  Make sure you cool the kataifi before serving or storing!

Chocolate Sauce

See my in depth video on making chocolate sauce for tips on types of chocolate and milk. This dessert does have ice cream so it's somewhat rich so use a milk that is not going to be too rich!

Pistachio butter

Pistachio butter can also be found in middle eastern grocery stores.  It hasn't quite made its way into mainstream stores yet.  There is pistachio butter and pistachio creme.  The pistachio creme has a lovely (artificially) green color while the butter looks a lot like almond butter.  The pistachio creme is also usually sweetened.  I prefer using the pistachio butter as it gives the pistachio punch.  Because the pistachio butter looks like almond butter and not very aesthetically pleasing, I usually hide it between the fruit and the ice cream!

Pistachio crumble

For the topping, blend some roasted, salted pistachio meats into granules, not powder) to be used to sprinkle over the dessert.

Berries

For this easy DIY Dubai chocolate dessert, I do like to add some diced fruit for color and tartness, to complement the sweetness, but this is optional.