RAWLINS — If you thought the Dubai chocolate fad had passed because social media posts about the viral treat have finally died down to a trickle, you’re just not looking in the right places.
The trend has gone mainstream in a big — and very pricey — way.
Dubai chocolate is popping up everywhere, even at convenience stores all over the Cowboy State, where they’re selling for $25 or more for just one of the oversized candy bars.
Savvy shoppers who think they might be able to try this trend and save a few bucks at a discount wholesaler like Costco will be disappointed.
The candy is even more expensive there, at $40 a pop.
The price itself triggers a bit of curiosity, even for those who haven’t paid much attention to the Dubai chocolate social media trend.
What on earth could make any candy bar cost as much as a Friday night steak dinner? Could the taste really be worth such a double-digit splurge?
Cowboy State Daily asked the clerks at the Rawlins Stinker station selling a pink version of the confection that question, ultimately buying one of the bars to share.
Some said they hadn’t tried it before because it’s just too expensive.
The impromptu taste test got mixed results. While some found it quite good, the texture and flavor were wrong for others.
“I’m not a pistachio person,” said Teresa Wood with a shrug. “The chocolate itself is good.”
This reporter also took a bite — OK, maybe it was more like two or three bites — and found it not unpleasant.
It was hard to taste the pistachio, and the interior that had looked so creamy was actually a bit dry and crumbly.
A Dubai chocolate bar is a creamy layer of pistachio butter with shredded phyllo dough enrobed in chocolate. It's sometimes flavored with things like saffron, tahini and rosewater flavored syrup. In this case, the bar had raspberry flavoring instead (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
This pack of Dubai chocolate bars in a Rawlins gas station convenience store is almost sold out, despite the $25 price tag. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
A Dubai chocolate bar is a creamy layer of pistachio butter with shredded phyllo dough enrobed in chocolate. It's sometimes flavored with things like saffron, tahini and rosewater flavored syrup. In this case, the bar had raspberry flavoring instead (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Born From A Pregnancy Craving
It also tasted nothing like knafeh, the original dessert that inspired it.
Dubai chocolate was born in 2021 when a pregnant British-Egyptian entrepreneur living in Dubai named Sarah Hamouda had a craving for knafeh, a childhood favorite of hers.
The Middle Eastern treat is a cheesecake-like dessert that’s sometimes eaten for breakfast. It's made using shredded pastry and a stringy yellow cheese, a bit like mozzarella, that’s been toasted and drizzled with rose-flavored syrup.
It’s often topped with some pistachios and is considered quite delicious.
Those who’d like to try the authentic dessert can likely sweet talk their way into a slice at Figs in Jackson, where it is often available as an off-menu dessert option for customers in the know.
Hamouda created her chocolatey take on this traditional dessert, calling it Can’t Get Knafeh of It," but it didn’t go viral until 2023 when TikTokker Maria Vehera posted a video of herself sampling it.
After Vehera's viral video attracted millions of views, other influencers started flying into Dubai to give the supposedly irresistible treat a try, making their own videos chowing down on a bar and extolling its creamy, buttery virtues.
Hamouda had always intended to make and ship her invention globally, but that hasn’t materialized so far.
Others have rushed in to fill the vacuum since then, creating their own versions, and dubbing it Dubai chocolate.
A world-wide obsession was thus born and spread around the globe.
Trying The Real Deal In Dubai
The original Can’t Get Knafeh Of It chocolate bar is still only made in Dubai at the Fix Dessert Chocolatier. Hamouda’s business makes just 500 of the bars each day, which typically sell out within minutes.
People wait in line for hours to buy just one, but they’re totally worth it, according to Jackson resident Irina Ivanova.
She's among those who have been to Dubai and tried the original.
The first time she saw Dubai chocolate, though, she was visiting in Bulgaria, where it was retailing for around $40 American.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is so insane,'” she said. “It was all over Bulgaria, $40 chocolates. What the … nobody has heard about something that expensive!”
When she mentioned this to her dad, who lives in Dubai, he told her she should wait and come to Dubai to try the original.
“He waited in a line for, like, hours to buy this chocolate for me,” Ivanova said. “I don’t know if you know, but the original one is like, you really have to wait hours, and they’re open only from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Dubai time, two or three days a week, something like that.”
Since then, Ivanova has tried many versions of Dubai chocolates all over the world, as well as in America.
“I can say that the homemade chocolate, if you have a chance to try it homemade, even if it’s not mine, try theirs, because the gas stations or stores, they’re very dry,” she said. "It’s very dry and they are different.”
That echoes the opinion of the Meeteetse Chocolatier, Tim Kellogg, who makes his own chocolate from scratch and does a brisk business for handmade artisan chocolate truffles and other candies.
He told Cowboy State Daily that Dubai chocolates aren’t something he’s tried for himself, but he thinks it has the right ingredients for a taste winner and could be worth its price — but only if it’s made with quality ingredients.
“I'm seeing a lot of cheap knockoffs,” he said. “And I don’t think those will be any good.”
It’s An Obsession
Ivanova confessed she has become somewhat obsessed with Dubai chocolate since trying the real thing in Dubai.
“It’s really interesting chocolate,” she said. “When you crack it, it starts just melting, and it’s really pretty chocolate, first, and second it’s very delicious.”
The first bite brings an explosion of Middle Eastern flavors and textures from the buttery pistachio creme inside the bar to the crunchy shredded phyllo dough pastry.
But American knockoffs typically aren't even close to right, Ivanova said.
“My first orders were from California, but the products were coming in very dry,” she said. “And the pistachio butter was different.
"The kadayif (shredded phyllo pastry) is different. They are not the right ingredients. I wanted something more authentic to the flavor that I tasted (in Dubai).”
That led her to start making the treat herself by sourcing Middle Eastern ingredients from Arabian countries to satisfy her own cravings.
After Ivanova shared some of her homemade Dubai chocolates with friends, she realized she had a business opportunity on her hands.
Everyone loved the luxurious quality of the treats she could make with authentic Middle Eastern sources.
That led her to try several popup stores, which were all quick sellouts.
Now she makes the treat in a range of sizes and prices on a regular basis, and she does private parties for people who want to try something authentic.
Her largest candy bar is $40, but there are half-size Dubai chocolate bars for $20, pink Dubai chocolate roses for $30, or a set of three Dubai Chocolate Cubes, dusted with gold, also for $30.
She’s also offered additional Dubai chocolate-inspired products, like spreads and fresh strawberry fruit cups.
Supply-Demand And A Pistachio Shortage
Prices haven’t seemed to stop people from buying out all of the Rawlins’ convenience store’s Dubai chocolates.
Manager Joseph Reyes told Cowboy State Daily the store gets shipments of the candy by the case, which have seven boxes and six of the bars per case.
That sells out in about a month, he said.
Among the regular customers during the summer was an oil and gas worker who liked to put a square of the chocolate into his morning coffee every day.
“It all melts into the coffee,” Reyes said. “And he says it’s pretty good that way."
It makes some sense that an artisanal product made with authentic Middle Eastern ingredients would be pricy.
Ivanova is using things like saffron, tahini, rose water, and cardamom to make her Dubai chocolates, which come with a cost, particularly when sourced from their native countries.
But it’s more difficult for people to understand why mass-produced knockoffs at a gas station or Costco would be double-digit expensive.
Some of that could be down to a supply-demand issue, Ivanova suggested.
Everyone has seen Dubai chocolate trending online and wants to try it at least once. That’s inflating the prices, for now at least — until people try one and decide $25 to $40 is just too much for the knockoffs.
Some of the ingredients are also in short demand lately, like pistachios.
Demand for pistachio cream to make Dubai chocolate bars, combined with a poor harvest and a shift in Iranian exports to the United Arab Emirates, contributed to an international shortage and a 40% price spike for pistachios year over year in 2025.
Chocolate, too, is facing its own challenges. There’s a global shortage of cocoa beans, caused in part by severe weather and crop disease in West Africa, a major supplier.
In the U.S., the price of popular products like Hershey’s Kisses has jumped 12% year over year, according to an analysis by Retail Brew.
All of which to say, Dubai chocolates might not be any cheaper for its true fans anytime soon.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
