What Is the Dubai Chewy Cookie? And Why Is It Everywhere?

The newest, viral Dubai chocolate treat is a chewy cookie—but it’s not what you think.

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Since Dubai chocolate first exploded in popularity a couple of years ago, the flavor combination has inspired pretty much any sweet treat you could think of, including ice cream, tiramisu, and brownies. But, just when we thought the foodies of the world have bled the canon of possibilities dry, Korean TikTok comes in hot with a fresh take: a Dubai chewy cookie, proving that Dubai chocolate is the gift that keeps on giving. 

What is the Dubai chewy cookie?

It’s a cookie! It’s a truffle! It’s a Superman! Wait, no. It doesn’t matter, it’s delicious! The “cookie,” for lack of a better word, is a cocoa-powder-dusted treat filled with toasted kataifi, pistachio cream, tahini, and white chocolate. Dubai chocolate purists can scoff at the addition of white chocolate, but it gives a little structure. The cookie has a stretchy outside that might look like mochi, but it’s actually a thin skin of a marshmallow.

Where can you get the Dubai chewy cookie?

The dessert has Korean origins, developed by South Korean pastry chef Kim Na-ra of Mond Cookie. However, it’s taken the country by storm as customers wait in line at bakeries across multiple cities, or flock to South Korean Starbucks for the “Dubai chewy roll.” Unfortunately, they’re not in American shops quite yet, but you can try your hand at making them yourself. 

How do you make a Dubai chewy cookie?

If you’ve got a free day and are okay with having sticky fingers, there are some tutorials available to help recreate the cookie. You’ll need kataifi, tahini, pistachio cream, white chocolate, marshmallows, butter, cocoa powder, and milk powder. If that ingredient list was an album, it would be a “no-skip.”

Make the filling by mixing the kataifi with melted butter then toasting it, then combining that with pistachio cream, tahini, and melted white chocolate. Form that mixture into mounds, let it firm up in the fridge, and make the coating by heating marshmallows and butter, stirring in cocoa and milk powder, and transferring to a piece of parchment to cool.

Pinch off pieces of this sticky dough, stretch it out, wrap your mounds of filling, and roll it all in cocoa powder. The process is harder than opening a Twinkie but probably easier than flying to Korea.