Tim Tams

You’ve probably heard of Tim Tams.  They’re those chocolate covered cookie sandwiches from Australia.  They used to be hard to find in the US, unless you had a Cost Plus World Market nearby.  But now, apparently, Pepperidge Farms has picked them up and they’re everywhere.  We had some at our local Target, plus they were on sale!

Now, I may get accosted for saying so, but Tim Tams on their own aren’t very interesting.  The chocolate is sweet enough, but the cookie part is kind of dry and boring.  I do like the chewy caramel version, but the caramel itself isn’t enough to bring the cookie as a whole into “delicious” territory.  If faced with a Tim Tam and a Jo-Jo, I’ll take the Jo-Jo every time.  So, even when I heard that Tim Tams were easily obtainable, I had no inclination to run out and stock up.

Until I read about the Tim Tam Slam.  You take a Tim Tam, bite off (small bites!) two opposing corners, stick one corner into coffee, hot chocolate, or tea (I guess), and suck up the liquid (but not too fast or you’ll burn your tongue).  Once your chosen beverage hits your mouth, quickly shove the entire cookie in your mouth.  You have to do this immediately or the cookie will disintegrate in your fingers, possibly falling into your mug.  I’m serious.  This is one of those times when you have to read all the instructions completely before embarking upon your chosen task.  With the Tim Tam Slam, you can’t read the first line and bite off the corners, then read the next step and dunk and sip, THEN read about shoving the cookie in your mouth.  It’ll be too late by then.

Anyway, this is by no means a healthy treat.  We’re talking about a cookie, people, not a graham cracker or mini wheat square.  I usually go through one cookie, enjoy the silliness of cramming an entire softened cookie in my mouth, and then move on.  I prefer the caramel Tim Tams for this because after the cookie part dissolves in your mouth, you’re left with warmed caramel to chew on for a few seconds.

There you go!  If you find yourself drinking hot coffee, cocoa, or tea (or maybe hot toddies or hot cider), and you are of the cookie-dunking people, I believe you would enjoy a Tim Tam Slam.  If you do try this and discover it’s not for you, just take the rest of the cookies into work.  Office people are known to eat just about anything that’s brought into the kitchen or break room.

Note to Mom: please don’t go out and stock up on Tim Tams now.  I still have an entire package of chocolate ones in the cupboard and that will probably last well into 2009.