Review: Crumbl's Dubai Chocolate Brownie Is Our New Favorite Take On The Trend

Well, folks, the time has finally arrived — Crumbl has bestowed upon fans its tantalizing take on the Dubai chocolate trend, and it's certainly a sight to behold. From all appearances, the Dubai Chocolate Brownie is a layered masterpiece. You've probably caught wind of the dessert's testing stages by now, and it's no secret that it's been in development for a little bit. Since it's finally here, of course we had to try it.

Crumbl has always been one to be hip with the times, so a Dubai chocolate-adjacent release was pretty much inevitable. It helps that the chain has released desserts even more unique than this beloved flavor trend, so it was clearly up to the task — but does the Dubai Chocolate Brownie deliver on all it promises? I had to try it for myself, so I walked to my neighborhood shop bright and early on a quest for a sweet treat for breakfast. Here's what I thought. 

When developing the Dubai chocolate dessert, a brownie wasn't the only recipe Crumbl considered. The chain put out a poll on social media to see which its followers would prefer: a Dubai chocolate brownie or a Dubai chocolate cheesecake. The brownie was the favored pick, and customers at tester locations started to see the dessert make appearances soon after. August 18 marks the first official day for the Dubai Chocolate Brownie at locations nationwide. In a press release, the chain calls the dessert "a soft fudgy brownie with a crunchy Kataifi and pistachio filling topped with a layer of milk chocolate and drizzled with even more pistachio cream." Yum.

When we spoke to a Crumbl exec about some 2025 releases, she mentioned that Benson Boone's Moonbeam Ice Cream cookie was the first "encore" dessert, meaning it was released two weeks in a row. Will the Dubai Chocolate Brownie have the same fate? We can certainly hope so, but better safe than sorry — for now, you'll want to grab the treat while it's available the week of August 18. Expect to see a slight upcharge on the dessert. A single cookie at my location usually costs $4.99, but the Dubai Chocolate Brownie added $2.99 to that, for a total of $7.98 (before tax and tip). 

Wow, wow, wow. I have to apologize to Crumbl for having some preconceptions about this dessert. Though I love the Dubai chocolate flavor profile, I expected the chain's take to be too sweet for my liking. After all, that's a problem I frequently have with Crumbl's desserts — and from what I've read on Reddit, I'm not alone in that opinion. Fortunately, such was not the case with this brownie, which is an absolutely delightful sweet-savory concoction that does serious justice to the Dubai chocolate trend.

For starters, the brownie base is moist, dense, and chocolatey, but by no means does it make itself the star of the show. It would be a perfectly good brownie on its own — but when paired with the pistachio-kataifi cream and hard milk chocolate layer on top, it becomes something fairly divine. The pistachio layer is rich and buttery but isn't overbearing, and I even liked the milk chocolate (which is saying a lot, as I am usually only a dark chocolate girl). If I had one criticism, it would be that I think the pistachio layer could have been thicker. It shines through plenty as-is, but I would have welcomed more of it, or perhaps just a thinner layer of the milk chocolate coating on top.

It will be easy for those already into Dubai chocolate to love this dessert, and Crumbl impressed me with this one. Far from being too sweet, it captures the rich essence that's essential to the Dubai chocolate profile and executes it very, very well. Even if you're new to the trend, I don't think this would be a jump into the deep end — the pistachio cream is tame enough that it won't shock uninitiated tastebuds, while the thick brownie base does a good job at grounding the treat. 

All of this is to say, do yourself a favor and take the trip out to Crumbl this week. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed. I'll even say that I'm not that upset at paying nearly $8 for the treat. A single brownie will last me at least a few days, and though I wouldn't normally spend that much on a small carry-out dessert, the slightly higher price point isn't a reason to stay away from it. I hope we'll see this come back in the future — if it's as popular as I think it will be, we just might.