Viral Dubai Chocolate – Easy Mama Version

Okay, so this Dubai chocolate thing was all over my Instagram feed, and I kept going, “Nah, too fancy, too much work” 😂. But then my colleague went, “You can get kataifi around here!” and suddenly I was curious.

I had so many questions: What is kataifi? Where do I even buy it? And melting chocolate in the microwave? Yikes. But after watching so many tutorials, failing a few (okay, many), I finally landed on my easy mama version that doesn’t stress me out.

Oh, and fun fact: this viral Dubai chocolate was first created by a Filipino chef, Chef Nouel Catis Omamalin.

Also, I dragged my little helper Little J into this adventure — trying to stop her from licking melted chocolate was its own challenge. 😂

You can also use mini silicone muffin molds (or cute shapes from Daiso) to make these treats extra fun. And yes — candy melts are now my kitchen obsession. They’re so versatile and give that pop of color!

Here in NZ, you can find:

• Candy melts: Spotlight, LookSharp

• Whittaker’s Creamy Milk chocolate: any supermarket (of course)

• Pistachio cream: Costco (Pisti brand), or some supermarkets (Fix & Fogg brand, a bit pricey)

• Kataifi: Asian grocery shops — in West Auckland I got mine at Zazam or Saffron Foods, Henderson (but don’t to to Grand Bazaar — it’s a bulk warehouse, though the Filipino staff once kindly sold me just one packet); it will be in the fridge section

Viral Dubai Chocolate - Easy mama version

Ingredients:

• 150 g kataifi

• 3 tbsp butter (or 50 g)

• 1 cup pistachio cream

• 1 block Whittaker’s Creamy milk chocolate

• Candy melts

Instructions:

1. Toast the kataifi in butter until golden, then cool.

2. Mix with pistachio cream to form the filling.

3. Melt candy melts in 10-second bursts, coat silicone molds, and chill.

4. Melt chocolate, coat the molds again, and chill for 10 mins.

5. Add filling, leaving a small space on top.

6. Seal with more melted chocolate, chill again until firm.

7. Pop out and enjoy your Dubai chocolate magic ✨

Storage Tip: Keep in the fridge for at least 30 minutes until hard enough to pop out. After that, you can leave them on the kitchen bench — I usually do, since it’s around 20°C here in Auckland and they stay perfectly in shape.

If your house is warmer, better to keep them in the fridge. But honestly? I’m not a fan of fridge-cold chocolate — I like it just right and melty enough when you bite! 😋

Ingredients

• 150 g kataifi, chopped as fine as possible

• 3 tbsp (≈ 50 g) butter

• 1 cup pistachio cream

• 1 block Whittaker’s chocolate

• Candy melts (your choice of color)

Instructions

1. Toast the kataifi

   • Melt butter in a pan over medium heat.

   • Add the chopped kataifi, and fry until golden brown (about 5–10 mins). Watch closely — it can burn fast.

   • Remove and set aside to cool.

2. Make the filling

   • Mix the toasted kataifi with pistachio cream in a bowl.

   • Adjust ratio: more kataifi if you like crunchier, more cream if you prefer it softer.

3. Melt candy melts & prep molds

   • Use ~6–10 flat melts per color (depends on your mold size).

   • Microwave in 10-second bursts, stirring between each, until mostly melted. Then stir more till smooth.

   • Spoon or swirl the melted candy into silicone molds, coating base and sides.

   • Chill in fridge to set.

4. Melt the chocolate

   • Chop Whittaker’s bar into small pieces.

   • Melt half in a microwave-safe bowl (I use a 1-cup Pyrex jug). Use 10–15 sec bursts, stirring until mostly melted.

   • When only small bits remain, just stir — residual heat will finish the melting.

5. Coat molds with chocolate

   • Spoon melted chocolate into the molds, covering base and sides. Use a small spoon or teaspoon to get into corners.

   • Chill ~10 minutes to harden.

6. Add filling

   • Fill the molds with the kataifi-pistachio mixture, leaving ~2 mm space from the top.

7. Seal & chill

   • Melt the rest of the chocolate and pour over the filling to seal.

   • Chill again for 15–30 minutes (or until you can’t wait any longer 😅).

8. Unmold & enjoy

Final Thoughts 💕

And there you go — my easy mama version of the viral Dubai Chocolate! Once you try it, you’ll see there’s no need to be intimidated. It looks fancy, tastes amazing, but really it’s just some melting, mixing, and chilling.

I love that you can play with colors, molds, flavors — make it your own. You can also swap creamy milk chocolate with dark or half and half. Whatever floats your boat. Little J had the best time sneaking tastes (and me chasing her away from the melted chocolate). 😆

Now grab your molds, melt that chocolate, and treat yourself. You deserve it, mama!

Check out my short reel to see how I made it — promise, it’s easier than it looks pero matrabaho lang ng konti.