When a good friend returned from her semester abroad in Australia our junior year of college, she brought with her something that would forever change our lives: Arnott's Tim Tam biscuits. They seemed simple enough in concept--a chocolate sandwich cookie, filled with chocolate cream, and enrobed in more chocolate--but there was something about the lightness of the cookie, the fluffiness of the cream, and the quality of the chocolate that made them out-of-this-world. We quickly devoured her supply, then spent many hours hunting them down in specialty stores, ordering them online, and begging friends to bring us back packs when they visited.
Now, finally, the Tim Tam is making its official American debut. Pepperidge Farm, one of Arnott's sister companies, is distributing the treats in Target stores through March 2009. This information was met with no small amount of excitement on my behalf and a frantic search for the cookies in nearby Targets. I was armed with a coupon, available here, and the hope of trying the caramel kind. Be forewarned: though they are supposed to be readily available, I had trouble tracking them down. Following a failed attempt at the SuperTarget in Glendale, and after being told they weren't in several other neighboring Targets, a helpful clerk finally let on that the Arapahoe and I-25 local was the one with all the stock. By the time I made it down there the next day, only four boxes (original chocolate only) remained. Of course, I bought them all.
Now came the part I'd been waiting for: the Tim Tam Slam. As iconic as Oreos dunked in milk stateside, the Tim Tam slam is that little technique the Aussies perfected that takes a great cookie and makes it mind-blowing. After the jump, a step-by-step for all you uninitiated.
Prepare a hot beverage. Coffee or tea can be used, though I prefer hot chocolate for that extra crazy chocolate punch in the face.
Bite the diagonal corners off a cookie--just enough to break through the chocolate coating and hit the biscuit.
Put one bitten end into the hot liquid and use the Tim Tam like a straw to suck some of it up.
After the liquid hits your tongue, you have to move fast and pop that sucker in your mouth. The result is an intense and delicious chocolate explosion (sometimes referred to as a "chocolate orgasm") of the softened cookie, melted coating and warm filling. You will never be the same again. Let's just hope this brief Tim Tam/Target affair develops into a serious relationship.
