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10/28/24

Knafeh Bars (the viral Dubai Bars with Pistachio Cream Centers)

 

So apparently there was a 'viral' recipe on social media this Fall.  I had no idea.  My personality is such that I don't pay attention to what people are doing - I rarely use social media and frankly, I'm too dang busy in my own life to bother.  I actually stumbled upon this fad honestly - and accidentally.

Two things.  First, I've been wanting to find a cheap 'candy bar' style silicone mold to have on hand.  Have wanted this for about 2 years.  Didn't want one bad enough to buy one, but I'm part of a product review group and after a year of waiting, searching, keeping my eye out and looking, I stumbled upon one!  Ordered it post haste.

Within a couple weeks I stumbled upon shredded phyllo dough.  Yes please!  I LOVE phyllo dough and had never heard of nor seen shredded.  But I had it, so I had to find something to do with it.  That is when I put those words into a search engine and realized there was something called a Knafeh Bar - or a Dubai Bar.  It used shredded phyllo AND it used a silicone candy bar mold.  BINGO.

I also happened to have pistachio's on hand (always) and cream and other ingredients (always).  It was meant to be.

 

 

 My pistachios were roasted and salted. I simply ran them under water to get rid of some of the salt.  Next time I probably won't bother - I'll just not put any salt in the rest of the filling to make up for it.

I thought this was pretty cool...  My stick of butter said it was 113 grams on the wrapper.  I wondered if it would really be exactly that?  I weighed it. 

IT WAS.  Exactly 113 grams in one stick of butter.  I didn't actually need exactly one stick, I'm just a geek and wanted to weigh it.
 
The shredded phyllo (fillo) has to be cooked with butter to make it brown and crisp.
 
This is the mixing of the pistachio cream with the crispy phyllo.
 Getting ready to mix the candy bar filling - the phyllo, pistachio cream, vanilla, peanut butter, extra chopped pistachios...
 The candy bar mold was already lined/filled with a thin chocolate layer.  This is the molds being filled.
 By this point I was over it... I sent this message to my family.
 But in the end... they turned out quite well!  Here I am un molding them... they were dusted with edible gold dusting powder and drizzled with a tiny bit of green as well.
 Taste test..
 Bagged up and ready for my family to enjoy.

Knafeh Bars

In a candy bar silicone mold, dust a little bit of edible gold luster dust and green if you have it or use white chocolate colored green and drizzle that.  Or just use luster dust and forget the green - not sure why people insist there should be green.  Gold is just fine and looks pretty.

Brush or pour/spread melted chocolate of choice.  I used what I had on hand and mixed a bunch different bits.
Chocolate almond bark, sugar free chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and some chocolate bars from Turkey.

Pistachio Cream

2/3 c pistachios
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c chopped up white chocolate or white chocolate melts
1/3 c butter
1/2 c cream or half and half
vanilla
almond extract
salt

Put into a blender and blend smooth.    Chill until needed if you've made it ahead of time.

Crisp the Shredded Phyllo

In a pan on the stove, heat some butter.
Add the shredded phyllo (kataifi)
Cook and stir until it's golden brown and crispy.  Set aside.

Filling

1 c shredded phyllo (kataifi)
1/2 cup of the pistachio cream you made
1 T peanut butter
2 T extra chopped pistachios

Fill the chocolate lined bar molds with the filling, be sure to flatten and smooth the filling and leave enough room to top with more melted chocolate.  When the bars are topped and you can't see any filling - it's totally encased in the chocolate in the molds, place them in the refrigerator to harden.

When the molds are cold and the chocolate hard, pop them out of the molds.











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