Just in time for cookie season, the Girl Scouts are getting a little competition: the beloved Australian cookies Arnott's Tim Tams have hit American grocery shelves. (Also, just in time for Australia Day!)
How big a deal are Tim Tams in their home country? Well, they're on the National Museum of Australia's list of "defining moments in Australian history," sandwiched somewhere in-between the creation of Vegemite (1923) and the first immigrant detention center (1991).
Tim Tams, the site explains, were first released in 1964, and are named after the winning horse of the 1958 Kentucky Derby: "A member of the Arnott family, Ross Arnott, attended the race day and decided ‘Tim Tam’ was the perfect name for his new biscuit," according to a company history. Nowadays Australians go through 45 million packets of Tim Tams annually. (The population of Australia, by the way, is 24 million.)
Consider, too, their high-profile fan base: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Natalie Imbruglia. (Also, incidentally, Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian, who received some as a gift when she visited Australia to promote her Kardashian Kollection. "My favorite snack ever!" Kim said on Insta.) "Tim Tams are the most amazing cookie, or biccie, as we call it,'" Jackman told Oprah and Nicole Kidman a few years ago, and then gave packets of the cookies—sorry, biccie (a.k.a. biscuit)—to her entire audience.
Here is what all the fuss is about: Tim Tams are made up of two thin malted-chocolate biscuits, sandwiched around a layer of chocolate cream, and then coated again in chocolate. Does this sound good? I'm here to say: it's good. There are also caramel-filled Tim Tams, red velvet Tim Tams, coconut cream Tim Tams, and a cheese Tim Tam that is available only in Indonesia. Plus mint-chocolate Tim Tams, available only in the U.S., which definitely and deliciously encroach upon Thin Mints territory. (Buzzfeed, of course, has ranked the flavors; the original Tim Tam comes out ahead.)
And Tim Tams provide not just cookie but ritual: may we introduce you to the Tim Tam Slam, whereby the cookie eater bites a corner off each end of the cookie and uses it as a sort of straw to suck up a warm drink, like coffee or hot chocolate. (It sounds more pleasant than the Ice Bucket Challenge, anyways.) Do it like in the video below or, I dunno, don't. You don't have to stand on ceremony to enjoy these cookies.
