Love
When the Dubai chocolate hype first hit Korea, I wasn’t thrilled. Understanding that most trends in Korea are driven by FOMO, I was not surprised by my disappointment – think about all the tanghulu stalls that have disappeared; the 6-hour wait just to enter Tim Horton’s, the Canadian coffee and “handmade” doughnut shop that makes Dunkin’ Donuts look like a culinary breakthrough; Taiwanese castella cakes; brown sugar milk tea; the revival (and the eventual, quick re-death) of Pokémon bread; and “croffles” – a pastry abomination that kills just about everything that’s good about croissants.
When I first tried Dubai chocolate, it felt as if the chocolate itself wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. The sweetness, nuttiness, and creaminess were pulling each other down, rather than mixing harmoniously to create an elevated eating experience.
Needless to say, when the Dubai chocolate craze resurfaced in the form of toasted marshmallow kadayif mochi, I could not help but roll my eyes. Moreover, it seemed like businesses – both big and small alike – were bending to its popularity and the lucrative revenue this new dessert was generating, and I once more lamented the herd mentality and lack of originality of the general Korean public.
Guess what? I ended up eating my own words (and multiple Dubai chewy cookies). The Dubai chewy cookies fixed everything that was wrong with the original Dubai chocolate: The beautifully contrasting texture created by the chewy exterior and the crunchy filling added an addictive joy, while the creamy pistachio was appropriately supported by the velvety, mocha-like chocolate flavour. I think the balance of textures and flavours was made possible due to two factors: The hearty amount of kadayif filling that allowed its crunchiness to really come forward, and the use of cocoa powder to imbue the marshmallow with an uncloying chocolate flavour, instead of using fatty milk chocolate.
Do I think that the Dubai chewy cookie hype is too much? Still yes. Do I enjoy eating it? Definitely yes. Am I worried about the inevitable crash of this trend, and the damage it will do to small local businesses that jumped on it? Also yes.
Do you like Dubai chewy cookies? A random survey on 2nd, 3rd floor Cornerstone Students (n=51)
Hate
Dubai chewy cookies went viral in South Korea. This cookie trend originated from Dubai chocolate. A Dubai chewy cookie is made up of a chewy marshmallow-like dough, pistachio cream, and an ingredient called kadaif, which is crunchy and sweet. In social media today it is going viral. Since social media is full of Dubai chewy cookie content, everyone wants to try it, and people even wait in lines to try it. Once this went viral I first also wanted to try it, so I went to a cafe that was near my house, and waited for one hour. For me I thought it was too overrated. I’ll be honest, it tastes good but not as much as waiting in line. The price is also too high. It was very sweet, and the feeling of marshmallow felt like it almost gave me diabetes. It was that sweet. Also, the cocoa powder on top of the cookie was a mess to clean. After eating one of those I felt like I already gained 1 kilogram and felt like my health was about to deteriorate.
Talking about the price, this one cookie costs as much as one full meal. Although it’s just a dessert that disappears in a few bites, I would rather eat street foods rather than eating that one cookie. So because of social media and the trend, some people might think they wasted money and time if they waited long for just one cookie. I feel the same way. When I saw the cookie scrolling my instagram for you page, the texture and color was different compared to when I saw it in real life.
Second, the taste really depends on the shop they sell. The price in every shop is almost say so people would easily get it in any coffee shop or dessert cafes. The people that try Dubai chewy cookies for the first time, might not be as good as they expected so they might think like they got tricked on social media or other people’s opinions. For example, this is my experience when i tried Dubai chewy cookies. The first one I tried was very sweet and at least chewy so I at least understood why this is called a chewy cookie. But when I tried it the second time the cookie was frozen and it was even hard to eat it because it was so thick. When I still got my first bite the kadaif should be at least crunchy but the texture was like eating grass inside a cookie, so after that experience personally, I thought you should carefully choose which shop to buy or search well.
As going into more detail about health i said earlier, the cookie is very sticky and sweet and the ingredients inside is also not good for our health. Everything is just full of sugar, and fat. The marshmallow and chocolate itself has so much sugar inside, but those things together with kadaif will just be a calorie bomb.
In conclusion, the Dubai chewy cookie went viral due to famous influencers and social media. Everyone had high expectations for the cookie and wanted to try it, me included. Some people after trying it love it and keep craving for more, but people like me think that it is too sweet and overpriced. I think it was good trying but not for next time. If someone says that they are giving it to me for free I won’t deny it, but I don’t think it’s worth it buying with my own money. People get confused and they say it’s like the best thing on earth, so for people who have never tried this yet, I want to say this: don’t crave for it too much and I would recommend trying it when the price goes down since it’s too overrated right now and the price is expensive.
