Written by: Katherine Sanders
Traveling to a new country means a new version of the Little Prince. For some, it’s a new postcard or magnet. For us, it’s another Dubai Chocolate bar.
At a street vendor in Berlin, Baran asked if she should buy a Dubai chocolate bar for us to split. A Dubai Chocolate bar is a milk chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream, tahini, and toasted knafeh. I had never been particularly intrigued by the bar due to its odd texture, but I’ve never said “no” to a new food. We took the bar to Dead Chicken Alley, sat down at a picnic table, and tried it. We’ve never been the same.
On our way from Prague to Salzburg, we stopped at a Spar to grab dinner. Maddie gasped and pointed to a shelf while we waited to checkout. It was a Dubai chocolate bar. This bar had less crunchy knafeh than the first, but it was still good. In Salzburg, we heard a woman say “Dubai Chocolate” and snapped our heads around. A local coffee shop sold a Dubai chocolate milkshake. We had to get it.
Our spring break allowed us only a few hours in Madrid as we hopped along coastal Spanish cities. We walked quickly through El Retiro park towards Myka, a frozen yogurt shop with Dubai chocolate toppings. Melted chocolate and pistachio cream mixed with knafeh on frozen, plain greek yogurt.
I’m embarrassed about Vienna. Walking around the market in the morning, a man tried to convince us to buy a 15 euro bar of Dubai chocolate. We refused – something we wouldn’t do now. Heading towards the opera house, we went into Spar to get an energy drink. A lime green drink with a brown label caught my eye. It was a Dubai Chocolate flavored drink. It looked like Mountain Dew. I bought it. The three of us sat outside the opera house and sipped from the bottle. Horrible. Thirty seconds after Maddie left for brunch with her cousin, Baran and I spotted a Lindt chocolate store. Large green posters displayed in the windows read: Dubai Chocolate. Lindt’s new Dubai chocolate bar was released that week. It was 10 euros and still the best Dubai Chocolate bar I have tried.
We searched for Dubai chocolate in Edinburgh. We stopped in every random grocery store and chocolate shop in hopes they sold the bar. By the end of the trip, I grew frustrated. “We haven’t had Dubai Chocolate since Vienna!” That was six days ago.
Maddie and I flew from Paris to Belfast to celebrate St. Patricks Day in Dublin. The Belfast shopping mall has a Belgian Chocolate shop. It sells cups of strawberries topped with chocolate, pistachio cream and knafeh. We got the bus off a stop early to stroll through the mall and pick up a cup before our train left. The toppings were perfect, but there were too many strawberries. The strawberries were too thick. We wanted more of the topping.
Baran came back from Poland with a jar of pistachio cream. With a free afternoon and an unsatisfiable craving, we got the C12 to Carrefour.
INGREDIENTS:
1. Milk chocolate bars (ours came in a pack of five, but we used two)
2. A crunchy cereal substitute for knafeh (preferably a shredded wheat cereal)
3. Tahini
4. Cooking mold used for madeleines
We arrived in the GTE lounge kitchen with our ingredients and started on our chocolate. It only took us an hour.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Melt two bars of milk chocolate
2. Crush the cereal up and mix with pistachio cream
3. Add a bit of tahini and salt
4. Paint the madeleine molds with a thin layer of chocolate and let harden in the fridge
5. Add a spoonful of the pistachio/cereal mixture
6. Cover with melted chocolate and let harden in the fridge
Although nothing will ever match the Lindt chocolate, these little bars will hold us over for when we miss Dubai chocolate.