Credit: Mond Cookie.
The latest internet-viral dessert to grace screens everywhere is the “Dubai Chewy Cookie 두바이 쫀득 쿠키,” a plump, mochi-like chocolate cookie filled with pistachio-tahini cream and kadayif. The dessert is a cookie-based variant of Dubai chocolate, another recent invention that took the internet by storm.
Trendy treat-hounds have been lining up early for the cookies, which go for KRW 7k to 9k (USD 4.75 to 6.11) apiece and usually sell out early. The viral trend escaped containment and spread to China, Japan and the United States, in part due to the vector of promotional posts by K-pop stars. The costs of the cookie’s main ingredients - marshmallows, pistachios and kadayif, all imported products - have doubled overnight.
The dessert craze has been an unexpected boon for South Korea’s small businesses, which were buffeted by economic headwinds in the aftermath of Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열’s insurrection attempt. The cookie is labor-intensive but not difficult to bake, making it an easy offering for any business hoping to lure customers. In addition to cafes and bakeries, even Korean and Italian restaurants in Seoul have begun adding Dubai cookies to the menu.
