Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 biscuit

Biscuit

A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....

 currently manufactured by Arnott's

Arnott's Biscuits Holdings

Arnott's Biscuits Holdings , is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company of the United States.In Australia Arnott's is the largest producer of biscuits and the second-largest supplier of snack food.-History:...

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate.

According to Arnott's, around 35 million packs are sold each year: nearly 400 million biscuits, an average of approximately 1.7 packs per Australian.

History

The biscuit was created by Ian Norris, who was the director of food technology at Arnott's. During 1958, he took a world trip looking for inspiration for new products. While in Britain, he found the Penguin

Penguin (biscuit)

Penguin biscuits are milk chocolate-covered biscuit bars filled with chocolate cream. They are produced by United Biscuits manufacturing division, McVitie's. The Tim Tam produced by Arnott's in Australia was based on the Penguin...

 biscuit and decided to "make a better one".

Tim Tams were first put onto the market in 1964. They were named by Ross Arnott, who attended the 1958 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 and decided that the name of the winning horse Tim Tam

Tim Tam (horse)

Tim Tam was an American thoroughbred racehorse. Sired by Tom Fool and out of the great racing mare Two Lea , the dark bay colt was owned and bred by Calumet Farm...

 was perfect for a planned new line of biscuits..

In 2003 Arnott's sued Dick Smith Foods

Dick Smith Foods

Dick Smith Foods is a food brand created by Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith to provide Australian owned and produced alternatives to products from foreign-owned food companies....

 over their Temptin brand of chocolate biscuits, which Arnott's alleged had diluted their trademark as a similar biscuit, in similarly-designed packaging. The case was settled out of court.

Tim Tams were introduced to the U.S.A. through Pepperidge Farm

Pepperidge Farm

Pepperidge Farm is a commercial bakery in the U.S. founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which in turn was named for the pepperidge tree, Nyssa sylvatica. Since 1961, the company has been owned by the Campbell Soup Company...

 as a promotional item from November 2008 to March 2009. They were sold through Target stores only; varieties offered were Original (sold as Chocolate Crème) and Caramel. Pepperidge Farm re-released these two varieties with Classic Dark in October 2009. That time the Original and Caramel varieties were available in supermarkets other than Target and they were available in the U.S.A. until March 2010. In late 2009 Pepperidge Farm announced that they would be available in the future at the same time every year, from October to March. They are packaged with the slogan "Australia's Favorite Cookie."

Varieties

In the 2000s Arnott's sold different varieties of the product.

In 2004, Arnott's caused a controversy when they released a range of alcohol-flavoured varieties of their products, including Tia Maria

Tia Maria

Tia Maria is a coffee liqueur made originally in Jamaica using Jamaican coffee beans. The main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, cane spirit, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 31.5% ....

 Tim Tams. It was suggested selling these biscuits in supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s where they were available to minors was irresponsible. However, it would take several thousand biscuits for the alcohol to have any effect.

Similar products include "Temptins" from Dick Smith Foods

Dick Smith Foods

Dick Smith Foods is a food brand created by Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith to provide Australian owned and produced alternatives to products from foreign-owned food companies....

, New Zealand's "Chit Chats", Australian Woolworths' home brand product "Triple Choc" and the Coles brand "Chocolate Supreme" biscuits.

Canada

Tim Tams are popular in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, with Thrifty Foods

Thrifty Foods

Thrifty Foods is a chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded by Alex Campbell and Ernie Skinner in 1977 when the first store was opened in Victoria's Fairfield neighbourhood. As of October 2011, the chain operates . It is the largest supermarket chain on Vancouver...

 selling three flavours: Original, Classic Dark, and Chewy Caramel. Overwaitea Foods

Overwaitea foods

Overwaitea Foods is a regional chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada.On March 8, 1915, Robert C. Kidd purchased a store at 746 Columbia Street in New Westminster, British Columbia. He developed several innovative merchandising techniques to attract customers to his store...

 sell Tim Tams throughout their supermarket chains, including Save-On-Foods, Cooper's Foods, PriceSmart Foods, and Urban Fare locations in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. Canada Safeway Limited

Safeway Inc.

Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...

 and London Drugs

London Drugs

London Drugs is a chain of Canadian retail stores with headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia. Its primary focus is on pharmaceuticals, electronics, housewares and cosmetics, with a limited selection of grocery items...

 also sell Original and Caramel Tim Tams in their western Canadian supermarkets.

Loblaws Companies (Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore) also sells Original and Caramel Tim Tams in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

USA

Pepperidge Farm, a sister company of Arnott's, brought the Tim Tam to the United States in the fall of 2008, with select distribution of caramel and chocolate crème flavours in Target stores, exclusively but nationwide. At that time, Pepperidge Farm launched an online community site that allowed users to track the cookies' journey from Australia to U.S. stores. The product is still "Made in Australia".

In the fall of 2009, Pepperidge Farm announced that Tim Tam biscuits will be made available each year between October and March (although still available year round in some of the northern states), in various stores. The brand also premiered the Classic Dark flavour in the United States, in addition to extending distribution of Caramel and Chocolate Crème flavours to supermarkets and grocery stores across the country.

A 7-ounce/200g package contains 11 biscuits.

Tim Tams available from "Cost Plus World Markets" in the USA do not bear the name "Tim Tam" on the wrapper and are branded as "Arnott's Original".

Hong Kong

Tim Tam Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits are imported into Hong Kong by Campbell Soup Asia Limited. Each packet is 15g (0.53 ounces).

Indonesia

Tim Tam Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits are now manufactured in Indonesia by Halo Arnotts

Tim Tam Slam

The Tim Tam Slam is the practice of drinking a hot beverage (usually coffee or hot chocolate) through a Tim Tam.

Opposite corners of the Tim Tam are bitten off, one end is submerged in the drink, and the drink sucked through the biscuit. The crisp inside biscuit is softened and the outer chocolate coating begins to melt.

Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse with the outside remaining intact long enough for the liquid to reach the mouth. Refrigerating or similar processes help to preserve the outside coating while allowing the inside of the biscuit to dissolve into a warm, creamy centre. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to prevent a premature collapse. The caramel centre of the Chewy Caramel variety helps to hold the biscuit together for a slightly longer time - contributing to enhanced enjoyment. When the biscuit structure collapses it is typically pushed into the mouth. This activity is often performed for show in front of large groups of people.

The Arnott's company used the name Tim Tam Suck in a 2002 advertising campaign.

Equivalent practices are possible with other biscuits, such as the Penguin and Breakway biscuits, available in the United Kingdom, and Twix

Twix

Twix is a chocolate bar made by Mars, Inc., consisting of a biscuit finger, topped with caramel and coated in milk chocolate. Being somewhat smaller in width than other confectionery bars, Twix bars are typically packaged in pairs...

, available in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In an article in The Oberlin Review

The Oberlin Review

The Oberlin Review is a student-run weekly newspaper at Oberlin College that serves as the official newspaper of record for both the College and the town of Oberlin, Ohio. It was first published in 1874, making it one of the oldest college newspapers in the nation...

, Cat Richert reports attempting the practice in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 using Oreo

Oreo

Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich cookie by the Nabisco Division of Kraft Foods. The current design consists of a sweet, white filling commonly referred to as 'cream' or 'creme', sandwiched between two circular chocolate or golden cookie pieces....

 cookies after returning from a trip to Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, but without success. Other chocolate coated biscuits can be used, with the MintSlice biscuit also being a firm favourite in Australia. The addition of Bailey's or another dessert liquor to the hot beverage of choice is an additional and suggested option for adult participants.