This Friday 16 February, National Tim Tam Day is an extra special reason to enjoy a pack of Tim Tam biscuits. Made with a unique combination of biscuit, cream and real chocolate, right here in Australia, Arnott’s Tim Tam is our country’s favourite chocolate bikkie, selling over 45 million packs a year. (That’s about 60 biscuits every second!)
Whether you like to eat your Tim Tam straight from the fridge, or hide the pack from your partner on the top shelf of the cupboard, enjoy with a cup of tea and do the ‘Tim Tam Slam’ (more on that later), eat off one biscuit layer at a time and lick the cream (no judgement!) or add it to your favourite dessert recipe – there are hundreds of different ways to enjoy a Tim Tam today.
And, in case your head has been buried in the cupboard (are you looking for the hidden Tim Tam biscuits!?), our favourite chilled treat experts, Gelato Messina teamed up again in January to launch three new gelato inspired Tim Tam flavours, Choc Cherry Coconut, Iced Coffee and Turkish Delight. So many options!
The genius behind the icon: Ian Norris allegedly went to his grave without divulging the Tim Tam recipe to his family, with seven grandchildren this would have been a tough secret to keep! Mr Norris, the ‘father of the Tim Tam’ was the Director of Food Technology at Arnott’s for 42 years. Norris set about experimenting with crème flavours and biscuit textures in 1958. Ross Arnott threw in the name Tim Tam in honour of that year’s Kentucky Derby winner. It took another six years of perfecting to get Tim Tam to market. “The whole success of Tim Tam, and why it is so good, is the flavour of the cream in combination with the chocolate and the biscuit,” he said.
The Complete Range
Classic
- Tim Tam Original
- Tim Tam Double Coat
- Tim Tam Chewy Caramel
- Tim Tam Dark
- Time Tam White
Gelato Messina
- Tim Tam Gelato Messina Choc Cherry Coconut
- Tim Tam Gelato Messina Turkish Delight
- Tim Tam Gelato Messina Iced Coffee
- Tim Tam Gelato Messina Salted Caramel & Vanilla
- Tim Tam Gelato Messina Choc Mint
Tim Tam in Numbers
- Arnott’s uses 3 kinds of chocolate to make Tim Tam biscuits.
- The chocolate is made at Arnott’s Adelaide site (Marleston) and transported to the Huntingwood Bakery by road and railway.
- On average Arnott’s Huntingwood uses around 27 tonnes of chocolate in 24 hours.
- Tim Tam Original biscuits are produced at the rate of around 3000 biscuits per minute, approximately 60 biscuits per second.
- Approximately 30% of the Tim Tam is the cream filling.
- The cream has real chocolate in it.
- The Tim Tam process from mixing to the packaging takes around two hours. Biscuits will travel almost a kilometre during the process.
- Arnott’s produces over ½ billion biscuit bases per annum for Tim Tam Original biscuits alone.
- Each year Huntingwood produces biscuit products that weigh as much as The Sydney Harbour bridge steelwork.
- Biscuits are then cut to 1mm thick, 11 holes are punched per biscuit and they are baked in gas ovens for 90 minutes.
The Tim Tam Slam
- Take a small bite from one corner of your Tim Tam
- Turn your Tim Tam around and take a bite from the opposite corner.
- Insert one bitten corner of your Tim Tam into a cup of tea or coffee.
- Suck hard, drawing the liquid through the biscuit and into your mouth.
- Quickly pop the rest of the Tim Tam into your mouth before it disintegrates.
- Warning: Do not attempt this with very hot liquid, or in front of someone you’re trying to impress!