1 week Ago By Melissa Janoski
How hot is the Dubai chocolate trend locally? Candy bars that cost up to $25 aren’t hard to find and business appears to be brisk. The pistachio-based crunchy filling is going into local cakes, cookies, fruit cups, Easter eggs, tarts, açaí bowls, mousse, cheesecake, ice cream, brownies, coffee, donuts, truffles, an espresso martini and stuffed waffles as well as candy.“I’ve become a little obsessed with them,” said Melody Ammenhauser of Olyphant, who likes the savory pistachios and the crunch that comes from shreds of toasted dough.
She first bought a bar on the Facebook page of Queen of Tarts Desserts in Archbald.Social media is where the international trend took off more than a year ago, with videos of green, textured filling oozing out of big bars.Recently, two British supermarket chains rationed their customers to two Lindt-brand bars per purchase.
A bakery in the suburbs of Anchorage, Alaska, sells out of $9 donuts.Sughr & Company Dubai cannoli (Sughr & Company)Dubai chocolate for sale at The Farmstand, Shavertown (Melissa Janoski)Dubai cheesecake, Queen of Tarts Desserts, is on the Easter menu for $95. (Queen of Tarts Desserts)A bar of Dubai chocolate is displayed at Queen of Tarts Desserts in Archbald.
(CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)Show Caption1 of 4Sughr & Company Dubai cannoli (Sughr & Company)Expand“Once it hits that viral level, people will spend the money,” said Aubri Yefko-Sepkoski, a barista at the Farmstand, a Shavertown bakery and coffee shop. The Farmstand started selling small cubes of the Carians brand at $4. It added a larger size of the Oasis Treasures brand for $10.
Queen of Tarts Desserts has sold 1,500 bars since February, mostly by preorder, said owner Donna Maria Groysman.“It’s been a little wild with those bars,” Groysman said. She started with three sizes.
Now she makes only the $25 version, which she says weighs just over 8 ounces.Dubai chocolate combines pistachio filling with shreds of toasted phyllo pastry and usually tahini.It was developed in the United Arab Emirates by a novice candymaker who started a business based on her pregnancy cravings.
At Queen of Tarts Desserts, Groysman says she toasts the pastry in coconut oil and grinds pistachios for the filling. “Which is a labor of love, let me tell you,” Groysman said.At first, Lauren Roehl, owner of Sughr & Company, in Minersville, wasn’t sure her Schuylkill County customers would go for it.
But she found social media had built demand in young people, beginning with preteens.She started with strawberry cups, combining fresh fruit, the crispy dough, chocolate and pistachio elements for $7. Roehl now also sells a 7 ounce candy bar for $22.
She plans to try a Dubai cupcake soon, since cupcakes are her specialty.“You never know how long a trend is going to trend for,” Roehl said. “I’m going to ride the pistachio high as long as I can.
”Pandarella’s Breakfast & Lunch, in Dunmore, has also served Dubai strawberry cups, as well as stuffed waffle sticks and candy. For owner Amanda Bordo, the shredded pastry is the key ingredient. She has incorporated it into Dubai-style dishes that swap the pistachio for peanut butter and cookie butter.
There was nothing Dubai style on the menu last week, but it will be back, Bordo said. “We kind of put it in everything,” she said.For the best texture, Bordo recommends keeping Dubai bars in the refrigerator until 20 minutes before eating.
The Garden, a Middle Eastern restaurant in downtown Scranton, makes a bar that sells for $25.Other places that offer, or have offered, Dubai flavors: Whisk Bakeshop, Scranton; Spice Asian Market, Scranton; Little Ladybug Bakery, Jessup; Jitty Joe’s Ice Cream, Moosic; the Burnt Norton restaurant, Wilkes-Barre; Whipped Sweet Shoppe, Hazleton; the Icing House, Hazle Twp.; Quick Chick Shawarma & Grill, Pittston; Pittston Popcorn Co.
, Pittston; and Moka Origins, Honesdale.Trends have their limits. There’s no sign of the flavor on the website or social media of Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, the regional company with dozens of stores.
It could not be reached for comment.Michael Mootz Candies in Hanover Twp. is over a century old and also has an ice cream parlor.
Co-owner Meagan Mootz doesn’t see a Dubai demand. The company is busy preparing for Easter and rolling out a new line of sanded-sugar fruit jelly squares. Some flavors are on the shelves and lemon is under development.
Dubai chocolate in NEPAPlaces in the region where the flavor combination is, or has been, available.Lackawanna County:Jitty Joe’s Ice Cream, Moosic.Little Ladybug Bakery, Jessup.
Pandarella’s Breakfast & Lunch, Dunmore.Queen of Tarts Desserts, Archbald.Spice Asian Market, Scranton.
The Garden Restaurant, Scranton.Whisk Bakeshop, Scranton.Luzerne County:Jane’s Sugar Magnolia, Dallas.
Pittston Popcorn Co., Pittston.Quick Chick Shawarma & Grill, Pittston.
The Burnt Norton, Wilkes-Barre.The Farmstand, Shavertown.The Icing House, Hazle Twp.
The Whipped Sweet Shoppe, Hazleton.Schuylkill County:Plain N Fancy Donut Shop, Schuylkill Haven.Sughr & Company, Minersville.
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