The Best Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream

This rich, decadent Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream is the perfect ice creamification of the viral Dubai chocolate bar. It includes a dark, rich chocolate ice cream with layers of sweet and salty pistachio kadaifi cream. Learn all you need to know about creating this sweet treat in this blog post, and how to get the creamiest ice cream texture that will wow all your friends and family.

I’m not one to jump on a trend that often, but I have to admit I am believer after making this Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream recipe. I know Dubai Chocolate has been a viral trend for awhile, but I just wasn’t interested until I made my banana miso pistachio cookies. In this cookie recipe, I loved how pistachio and chocolate made the perfect flavor combination, so I thought why not turn this viral trend into one of my favorite desserts – ice cream! This Dubai chocolate ice cream is definitely one of my favorite ice cream recipes I’ve ever developed. It has this rich, dark decadent chocolate cream paired with a sweet and salty pistachio kadaifi cream. It’s unbelievably good! If you want to try another Dubai Chocolate dessert, check out my Dubai Chocolate mooncakes (yes mooncakes!).

How I developed my Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream recipe

Dubai chocolate is a rich dark chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and kadaifi, so I thought it would be fun to ice creamify it by making dark chocolate ice cream and then layering it with pistachio kataifi cream. In my first test, I tested out the flavor combination by making chocolate ice cream with 4 oz of dark chocolate and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. I loved the pistachio and chocolate combination, but felt like the chocolate was a bit powder-y, so I decided to reduce the cocoa powder in my next test.

In my next test, I reduced the cocoa powder, but also accidentally doubled the dark chocolate. I was really sleepy when I did my second test, so I thought a bar was 2 oz instead of 4 oz and ended up accidentally doubling the dark chocolate. This actually turned into a happy accident because I loved that extra rich, dark chocolate flavor the additional chocolate added to the ice cream. I ended up keeping that amount in the final recipe.

Key Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Heavy cream & whole milk – I changed up my ice cream recipe to include more heavy cream than whole milk because adding more fat (in the heavy cream) makes the ice cream creamier. There are no true substitutes for either ingredient. The fat content and neutral flavor of both make it the perfect base for ice cream. A substitute for whole milk I’ve used before is coconut milk (like in my coconut ice cream), but this would add some coconut flavor to your ice cream.
• Granulated sugar – Granulated sugar is a key ingredient in ice cream, adding both sweetness and creamy texture to the ice cream. I have tested my ice cream base with half the sugar (1/4 cup), and it still works well, so feel free to reduce the sugar down to 1/4 cup.
• Cocoa powder – Cocoa powder is part of adding that chocolate flavor to the ice cream. Use any kind of cocoa powder you can find, but for the best results, use dutch processed cocoa powder. It has the best, richest chocolate flavor. I have used many cocoa powders, and found that Guittard cocoa powder is hands down the best.
• Dark chocolate – Use high quality dark chocolate for the best results. I like to use Bakers semi-sweet chocolate bars. As I mentioned above, I accidentally added twice the amount of chocolate, and it ended up being the best mistake because the resulting ice cream was so chocolate-y which I like. However, feel free to use 1/2 or 4 oz of dark chocolate.
• Kataifi – This was a new-to-me ingredient, and I love it! It’s a middle eastern pastry that adds texture to the ice cream. I found the best place to get it is on Amazon.
• Pistachio butter – Use any kind of pistachio butter you can find. As with the Kataifi, I also got my pistachio butter on Amazon. They don’t carry it at my local grocery storee yet. The pistachio butter I got has added sugar, but feel free to get pistachio butter without added sugar.

How to make my Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream

For a simplified version of this recipe, skip to the recipe card. Included in this section are tips and tricks to help you achieve the most consistent results.

1. Combine 1 3/4 cups of heavy cream, 1 1/4 cup of whole milk, and 3 tbsp of cocoa powder in a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until hot, stirring constantly to incorporate the cocoa powder into the cream. Turn off the heat once smoke starts coming off the surface of the cream.
2. Mix together 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar until light and creamy. Scoop 1/4 cup of the hot chocolate cream from step 1 into the egg mixture. Mix well and pour the mixture into the sauce pan.
   • Tip #1: This is called tempering. You are raising the temperature of the eggs, so they don’t cook too fast in the hot cream. You don’t want scrambled eggs in your ice cream!
3. Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix and turn the heat back on. Heat the cream until it reaches 170 degrees F. Remove from the heat.
4. Add 8 oz of chopped, dark chocolate into a large bowl. Pour the cream from step 3 into the bowl through a fine mesh sieve strainer. This helps catch any solids leftover in the cream.
5. Whisk until the chocolate melts. Strain the mixture again. This helps create a smooth, silky ice cream texture.
6. Cool the ice cream base at room temperature for an hour before letting it cool completely in the fridge for 3 hours. I like to do this overnight.
   • Tip #2: I like to cool the base before putting it in the fridge, so excess condensation doesn’t end up in the ice cream base. Additionally, more liquid evaporates as it sits, creating a creamier ice cream texture.
   • Tip #3: Additionally, the colder the cream, the creamier the ice cream will be.
7. While the ice cream base is cooling, make your pistachio cream filling. Melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add 2 oz of kataifi and toast until light brown. Turn off the heat, and add 4 oz of pistachio butter and 1 tbsp of tahini. Mix and set aside.
   • Tip #4: Use 2 spatulas or spoons to toast your kataifi. In my first test, I only used 1, and I found it hard to move the kataifi around and toast each evenly. Since each piece is so thin, they burn easily.
8. Pour the ice cream base into an ice cream maker, and churn for 10-15 minutes until the texture of soft serve ice cream.
9. Spoon 1/3 of the chocolate ice cream into a freezer safe container. Follow that with 1/2 of the pistachio kadaifi cream. Top that with the second 1/3 of the chocolate ice cream and the last half of the pistachio filling. Finally, top it off with the last 1/3 of the chocolate ice cream.
10. Cover and freeze for 3 hours or overnight. I like to freeze it overnight.

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