After spending a semester in Australia, I did my best to try the local cuisine. I was most excited though about the famous Tim Tam cookies. For those who may not know or have not had the pleasure to indulge in this chocolatey dessert, Tim Tam cookies consist of two chocolate biscuits with a chocolate filling and coating. There are many different variations and choices of different flavors and in my five and a half months I did my best to try most of them.
1. Double Coated
It tastes just like a double stuffed Oreo, the original is great but double of a good thing is always better. This variation to the Tim Tam original has an extra chocolate coating, making it much more rich and delicious. If you love chocolate as much as I do, this Tim Tam will be your first choice too.
2. Tim Tam Original
You just really can't beat the original.
3. Classic Dark
I would choose dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day. So this simple change to the almost perfect original easily makes the top five.
4. Chewy Caramel
This Tim Tam variation tastes like the perfect combination of a Twix Bar and a Tim Tam. Between the two chocolate biscuit cookies is a caramel filling instead of chocolate. However, the chewy caramel filling makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to do the famous "Tim Tam Slam."
5. Red Velvet
Unfortunately, this one can only be found in Indonesia. During my trip abroad, I traveled to Bali for my mid-semester break and could not leave the airport without trying these. This type consists of two red velvet biscuit cookies with a cream cheese filling, and then covered in chocolate. What I loved was that they truly tasted similar to red velvet cake, even the cream cheese filling!
6. White Chocolate
As I said, I am much more of a dark chocolate person because I don't love how sweet milk chocolate can be and I find white chocolate to be a little too sweet and rich. However, these Tim Tams are delicious of course. They do not have the regular chocolate biscuits either, rather they have a white chocolate biscuit. If white chocolate is your favorite, then you'll love these.
7. Cappuccino
Unfortunately this is another flavor that is not found "Down Under." The cookie biscuit as well as the filling really had a strong coffee flavor and the filling on the inside was much lighter than the other Tim Tams. It's similar to a mocha from the combination of chocolate and coffee. Now there's more of a reason to travel to Bali during your time abroad, and when you do, you have to try these Indonesia specific Tim Tams.
8. Coconut Lychee
These Tim Tams were very rich, one was plenty. They were inspired by a flavor from the Australian gelato brand, Gelato Messina. They have a white chocolate coating, which I find in general to be more rich and sweet than other chocolates. These cookies were supposed to have a lychee flavor, which is a type of fruit, however, I only tasted coconut. The coconut and white chocolate did pair nicely together, but it was very sweet.
9. Salted Caramel & Vanilla
I found these to be a little overpoweringly sweet, they are another collaboration with Gelato Messina. The vanilla flavor was extremely strong. It does not have the chewy caramel center as the Chewy Caramel variety does, but a caramel and vanilla flavored buttercream filling. It wasn't bad by any means, but I would choose the other caramel option before this one.
10. Black Forest
Lastly, another gelato combination and these were by far my least favorite. The filling consisted of cherry jelly and vanilla frosting and the coating was dark chocolate. While this may sound delicious and similar to the Cherry Garcia flavor by Ben and Jerry's we all love, this Tim Tam had a weird artificial flavor and unpleasant after taste. That being said, I would never turn one down, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
Don't forget to try a Tim Tam slam!
I couldn't bring myself to try the Mango flavor, but I'm sure it's just as tasty as the rest. Many of these flavors can only be purchased in Australia or Indonesia, but some are available on Amazon and in select stores in the United States. You can always try making your own as well!