Pistachio, tahini and milk chocolate slice

A kind of elevated crispy cake inspired by the Dubai chocolate bar

I grew up eating crispy cakes–ones made with cornflakes or rice crispies, doused in chocolate and caramel and often topped with more of the same. This recipe is reminiscent of these treats, and also takes inspiration from the viral Dubai chocolate bar. My Instagram discover feed is about 90% food-related content, so I have been subject to watching many videos of people trying said chocolate bar and I quickly became borderline obsessed with the sumptuous crispness that you hear as people crunch down on the pistachio kataifi filling.

I had recently bought pistachio crema with no solid idea as to what to make with it–from using the crema previously, I knew that it was delicious but also incredibly sweet, so my mind what searching for ways to try to balance out that rich, potentially sickly sweetness. My notebook became filled with flavour pairings for pistachio and the many different ways that I could use the crema, and then the Dubai chocolate bar popped into my mind. All along I think in the back of my mind I wanted to create something that was inspired by it, but felt that something as luxurious as pistachio crema deserved a more refined destiny, but in the end, I leaned into the sweetness. I had leftover chocolate chip shortbread dough in the fridge, and some beautiful milk chocolate from a local chocolatier. In the absence of kataifi, I used cornflakes which I feel did very well to achieve that same crisp crunch that I was craving. I began envisaging the end product of chocolate chip shortbread base with milky green filling and creamy milk chocolate top and it felt so fun that I decided that it was indeed the destiny of this particular jar of pistachio crema.

It is incredibly delicious and addictive, satisfying my sweet tooth and my adoration for textural variety, and is the perfect sweet accompaniment for a cup of strong coffee or tea. The shortbread recipe makes double the amount required for this recipe–you can refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. I think it’s a nice thing to have on hand if ever you want to make some chocolate chip shortbread, but if you’d prefer to just make what you need for this recipe, I have put these quantities in brackets. the instruction for the shortbread base may look lengthy but it’s just because I’ve tried my best to communicate how to do it–I have included some pictures along the way, too.