The Dubai chocolate trend meets NZ-made pistachio. Crunchy, gooey, stuffed with real pistachio — no fake green syrup in sight.
Prep time: 20 minutes | Bake time: 12 minutes | Makes: 12 large cookies | Difficulty: Medium
If you've been on TikTok in the last year, you've seen the Dubai chocolate bars — pistachio cream, crunchy kadayif pastry, premium chocolate. The flavour combination went viral for a reason: it's genuinely incredible.
We've been making our own version at Blue Moon since the trend hit — our Dubai Pistachio Chocolate Croissant has been one of our fastest sellers. But we wanted to give you a home version that's easier to make and just as addictive.
The key ingredient: Just Nuts Pistachio Spread. This is our NZ-made pistachio spread — real pistachios, no palm oil, no added sugar, no filler. It's spreadable enough to stuff inside cookie dough but thick enough to hold its shape when baked.
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 170g softened butter
- 100g brown sugar
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 240g plain flour
- 30g Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 150g dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa)
Pistachio Filling
- 120g Just Nuts Pistachio Spread
- 60g crushed kadayif/kataifi pastry (or crushed filo pastry, baked until golden)
- Pinch of flaky sea salt
Topping
- Just Nuts Pistachio Drizzle
- Crushed pistachios
- Flaky sea salt
Method
Prepare the Filling First
- If using kadayif pastry: spread it on a baking tray, bake at 180°C for 8–10 minutes until golden and crunchy. Let cool, then crush into small pieces.
- Mix Just Nuts Pistachio Spread with the crushed pastry and a pinch of salt. This creates the crunchy-creamy filling that makes the Dubai combo work.
- Spoon tablespoon-sized balls onto a lined plate. Freeze for 30 minutes until firm.
Make the Cookie Dough
- Cream butter and both sugars until fluffy — about 3 minutes.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Fold into wet ingredients until just combined.
- Fold in dark chocolate chips.
- The dough should be thick and scoopable. If it's too soft, refrigerate 15 minutes.
Stuff and Bake
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Line trays with baking paper.
- Scoop a generous tablespoon of cookie dough. Flatten in your palm.
- Place a frozen pistachio filling ball in the centre.
- Wrap cookie dough around the filling, sealing completely. Roll into a ball.
- Place on tray, spacing 6cm apart. Slightly press the top.
- Bake 11–13 minutes. The edges should be set but the centre should look underdone.
- While still warm: drizzle with Just Nuts Pistachio Drizzle, sprinkle crushed pistachios and flaky sea salt.
Why Just Nuts Makes This Recipe
Most "Dubai cookie" recipes online call for pistachio cream — then people buy whatever green jar they find at the supermarket. That jar is usually 30% pistachio, 70% oil, sugar, and emulsifiers.
Just Nuts Pistachio Spread is real pistachios ground in New Zealand. No palm oil. No added sugar. No filler. When you bite into the centre of this cookie, you taste actual pistachio — not artificial nut-flavoured sugar paste.
For the drizzle on top, Just Nuts Pistachio Drizzle is the easy move — pourable consistency, same clean ingredients, ready to go straight from the jar.
The Blue Moon Tips
Freeze the filling balls. This is the difference between cookies that work and a pistachio mess all over your baking tray. Frozen filling holds its shape inside the dough during baking.
Don't overbake. Pull them when the centre still looks slightly glossy. Residual heat does the rest. An overbaked cookie loses the gooey pistachio centre — which is the entire point.
Double batch the filling. The pistachio spread + crushed pastry combo is addictive on its own. Spread it on toast, stuff it in croissants, eat it with a spoon. We won't judge.
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