Ooo lala, Tiger Brownies!

What's great about the end of the school year is that the teachers always ask their students to bring some goodies to the end-of-year class party. What this usually means is that the parents (or the sister, being me :P) gets to dirty their hands in the kitchen and whip up some incredible treats for the youngsters to ooooo and aaaahhh at. My sister was asked to bring brownies to her class party, but I was bored/sick-and-tired of making plain ol' chocolate brownies and decided to try my hand and making some tiger brownies. These brownies were inspired by my love for brownies and blondies and my want to have them combined in a harmonious marriage of sweeeeeeett matrimony. Oh, too often have blondies been smothered and forgotten amongst the shadows of their more loved sister the brownie... but it's not the brownies fault. I tried to explain the "Tiger Brownie" recipe to my sister and she was thoroughly confused when I mentioned "blondie", she wasn't quite sure what that was.

Tiger Brownies with Shortbread Crust

Shortbread Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 large egg yolk

1. Combine flour, sugars and salt.
2. Cut in butter using pastry cutter, until mixture resembles course crumbs (pea sized chunks).
3. Add in the slightly beaten egg yolk.
4. Press 3/4 of the mixture into an 8x8 square baking pan (lined with foil for easy removal) and bake at 350F for 8mins.
5. Remove crust and let cool, while you make the brownie topping.

Brownie Recipe: I used this recipe for the brownie topping. Follow the directions exactly, except omit the chocolate chunks & nuts (I'll explain why later) and it'll make enough for one 8x8 pan (but since we're using 1/2 this recipe and 1/2 a blondie recipe, you'll have extra... I used the extra to make a Yin-Yang 6-inch round Tiger Brownie pie!)

Blondie Ingredients:
- 1/4 + 1/8 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips (do not add directly to mix... I'll explain later)

1. Combine butter and sugars, mixing until well incorporated.
2. Add in egg and vanilla
3. Mix in the flour and salt. (Note: mixture should be the consistency of softened butter cream. If too stiff, add in 1 tbsp light corn syrup and 2 tbsp milk)

Assembly:
1. Take finished shortbread crust and prepare to assemble the tiger brownies.
2. Place 1/2 the brownie mixture in a piping bag, without any fancy tips.
3. Place 1/2 the blondie mixture into a separate piping bag.
(Note: The chocolate chunks/chips/nuts were not added because they would clog up the piping bag tip, if youre chocolate/nuts would fit through the tip you may add them directly to the mixes)
4. Take the brownie bag and pipe a line of the batter directly on top of the shortbread crust. Now take the blondie mixture and do the same. The batters should touch and you should not see any of the shortbread crust.
5. Continue piping until the pan is full (all the batter will not be used up).
6. Use the excess batter for whatever you like!
7. Bake the Tiger Brownies at 350F for 30-35mins, or until fully cooked.
8. Remove from oven, cool completely and cut into bars. Makes 16 bars and approx 8 extra chunks if you bake the excess batter.

Here's my little 6-inch Tiger Brownie Pie... looks like Yin-Yang. This made those extra 8 chunks.

The Tiger Brownie Pie wedges were very cute, I just had to take a photo

My sister was quite impressed with the end result, as was I. After making this recipe, I had a whole lot of mess to clean up around the kitchen. Melted chocolate, sticky fingers from piping bag catastrophes :P (somehow I just can't pipe without the batter getting all over my hands... and in my mouth). The brownies baked perfectly, and the blondie portion was to-die-for. I will definitely make this recipe again. Yum... I can't wait until my other sister's class party.