No Bake Tiger Butter Tart

Have you heard of tiger butter? It’s basically just white chocolate, peanut butter, and dark chocolate all swirled together to look like tiger stripes. I was first introduced to tiger butter on my 7th birthday, so it’s kind of a nostalgic flavor for me. I had a candy making party at the shop where my mom took cake decorating classes, and even though we made lots of different candies that day, I can’t remember any other than the tiger butter. Maybe there’s something about the chocolate peanut butter combo that just sticks with you. Or perhaps it’s because I was in a sugar coma from all of the candy I ate, so I don’t remember much else. I do remember my friends and I eating the hell out of some tiger butter, though. My poor mother…

I didn’t think about tiger butter for a long time after that, but when I moved to LA, they had tiger butter caramel apples at a candy shop near Hollywood and Highland. Every time a friend or family member would come to town, we’d do the usual touristy stuff and as a reward for seeing the walk of fame for a gazillionth time, I would treat myself to a tiger butter apple.

Since it’s almost Halloween, I had planned to make tiger butter caramel apples in the spirit of the holiday. I soon realized that these apples required more coordination than I had, so I ended up making this tiger butter tart instead, and I think it tastes even better than the apple version. I suppose it’s no longer a Halloween themed treat, but it does taste like candy. Plus, it’s way easier to make. The swirl pattern is simpler than it looks.

You’ll start by pouring in your peanut butter ganache filling into the prepared tart shell. Then take your chocolate ganache and put it into a piping bag or a plastic bag (make sure it’s slightly cooled so you don’t melt the bag) and creating a zig zag pattern over the peanut butter mixture. As you can see, it doesn’t have to be precise. Next, take a wooden skewer and stick it about halfway down into the filling (don’t let it touch the crust) and make a figure 8 pattern all throughout mixture. Again, doesn’t need to be precise. It will still come out looking pretty.

The first time I made this, I used whole Oreo cookies for the crust, but combination of whole Oreos with a sweet tart filling was tooth achingly sweet. I ended up using a mixture of Newman’s Own alphabet cookies and chocolate graham crackers just because it’s what I had on hand. You could also use the outsides of Oreo cookies minus the cream or those elusive chocolate wafer cookies (which I finally found but were quite expensive). I ended up using a stick of melted butter in the crust, but you may need more or less depending on what kind of cookie you use. Just make sure the texture is not too crumbly or you won’t be able to mold it into the tart pan. A chocolate shortbread crust would work nicely too. Maybe I’ll try that next time when I’m not too lazy to roll out dough.

I hate to dirty extra dishes so the first time I made the filling, I dumped the white chocolate into the pot of hot cream and whisked the heck out of it to make it smooth keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. However, you’ll end up with grainy ganache if you do this. Put the white chocolate in a separate bowl, pour the cream over it, and let it melt slowly. It’s worth the extra dirty dish.