The Tim Tam Slam Is Here To End Cookie Dunking Careers
Australians have plenty of iconic foods that are unique to the southern island continent. While the first thing that springs to mind is probably Vegemite, there are plenty of other eats that every Australian grew up with but are possibly unfamiliar to foreigners. These include things like fairy bread, meat pies, Anzac biscuits, lamingtons, Chiko Rolls, Caramelo Koalas, and Pavlova — though that last one is an ongoing dispute with New Zealand about who invented it first. There is one cookie (or "bikkie," which is Aussie slang for biscuit), however, that Australians love, and it's known as a Tim Tam. It consists of two rectangular cookies with a chocolate-flavored filling — the entire thing is then coated in milk chocolate. It's probably one of the things you're likely to find in an Australian's suitcase when they're traveling overseas.
While the original flavor is milk chocolate, they now come in a wide variety including dark chocolate, white, double-coated, caramel, and mint. Every now and then, Arnott's — the company that owns the cookie — will release special edition flavors such as the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart. While everyone has their particular favorite flavor, many Australians will tell you the correct way to eat the cookie (or biscuit as they're known in Downunder) — it's the Tim Tam Slam method.
Be careful, it can get messy!
Australian celebrity Natalie Imbruglia shared her Tim Tam Slam experience with audiences around the world. Imbruglia gives step-by-step instructions on exactly how it's done on the Graham Norton show. First, you bite off one corner — just enough to remove the chocolate coating — and then you do the same to the diagonal corner. Norton's reaction was, "Do you have television in Australia? How bored were you when you thought of this?" Then you can use any warm drink — tea, coffee, or hot chocolate — and use the Tim Tam as a straw, sucking the liquid through one of the corners. This is the tricky part: you quickly need to put the cookie in your mouth so that it doesn't just flop in a soggy mess into your drink. Norton's reaction after the entire experience was a bit different, "Television is such a limited medium. I can't tell you ... that was fantastic!", per YouTube.
The TakeOut described the experience as the "cookie itself melt[ing] on your tongue like a tidal wave of hot fudge, and the combined flavor of chocolate plus your drink of choice [rippling] through your entire being." However, for the ultimate Australian experience, try hot Milo with your Tim Tams. If that's not available, hot chocolate is the best chocolate-upon-chocolate Tim Tam sensation.
If you don't have an Australian in your life who can bring these treats to you, places like World Market will sometimes carry them.