A woman has landed herself in hot water after being caught trying to bring home a large amount of an immensely popular Dubai chocolate bars.
The flyer is now facing an investigation on possible charges of tax evasion after she was caught trying to sneak 460 bars of the highly popular Dubai chocolate through an airport in Germany last month. Having failed to declare the 90kg of sweet treats, the 33-year-old has not been arrested but is being made to pay hundreds of euros in import duties.
The viral Dubai chocolate was spread between three suitcases as the women came into Hamburg Airport. Custom officials believe that the woman intended to sell the confiscated bars commercially, which could have potentially posed a risk to the health of customers, as the bars packaging did not display any ingredients or allergen information.
Despite not revealing the brand of Dubai chocolate, officials valued the contraband at around €2,100 (£1,759). The customs office statement added: “In addition to the potential tax evasion for the evaded import duties of over €330 (£276), customs in this case is primarily concerned with protecting the health of citizens in Germany.”
But why is this chocolate so popular and what makes it so special? Here’s what to know if you’re hoping to bring some of the sweet treat home.
What is Dubai chocolate?
Dubai chocolate was originally created by founder of Fix Dessert Chocolatier, Sarah Hamouda, in 2021. She was inspired by her pregnancy cravings and wanted to create something more than the “typical” chocolate fix.
The chocolate bar is originally known for being filled with pistachio cream and knafeh – a crispy shredded filo pastry used to make baklava. However, as the business has boomed, they have created other fillings including vanilla custard, tea and biscuits or Lotus cheesecake spread.
Sarah has said that all the bars are handmade, with colourful designs on each one. FIX retails the 200g bars for $20 each, around £16.51.
Why is Dubai Chocolate so popular?
This brand of chocolate took flight after asmr food influencer, Maria Vehera, shared a TikTok of herself eating the treat in 2023. She captioned the video by saying: “WOW, JUST WOW!!! Can’t explain how good these are! When a chocolate, a dessert and a piece of art meet this is what you get!”
In the video, she is seen to devour three bars from Fix – “Can’t Get Knafeh of it,” “Mind Your Own Busicoff,” and “Crazy Over Caramel”.
Currently this clip has been viewed 110.4 million times, with 6.5 million likes.
This video helped soar Sarah’s orders from single digits to having to implement a maximum of 500 orders a day. With the rise in popularity, Sarah and her husband had to move from working at home to renting a kitchen with a team of 10 workers.
She said: “To be honest, not at any point did I think this was going to become global. It’s insane what’s been happening.” Due to the shortage of candy bars that FIX can sell each day, other brands have taken to creating treats inspired by the viral chocolate, and people have tried to recreate them at home.
How to make Dubai Chocolate at home
In order to make this at home, you simply need pistachio cream, tahini, butter, about four melted bars of milk chocolate and kataifi – a pastry made of shredded filo dough.
The amounts for each are as followed:
Ingredients
- 61.5 g Pistachio cream
- 1 Tbsp Tahini
- 354.88 ml kataifi shredded phyllo dough
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 453.59 g milk chocolate melted (about 4 chocolate bars)
According to Simply Homecooked you should:
- First prepare the chocolate by melting half of it.
- Then add it to the mould – let the excess drip into a bowl.
- Allow the chocolate to harden by placing it in the fridge.
- Make the filling – chop up the kataifi and place it into a medium heat pan with butter. Stir until it has turned golden and crispy.
- Add the tahini and pistachio cream – do this by adding it to a bowl with the shreds and mixing it together.
- Add the filling to the chilled chocolate by spreading it on top.
- Finally pour the rest of the melted chocolate on top and leave to set in the fridge for an hour or until it has fully hardened.
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