I’m slightly obsessed with Australia, but it tends to go in waves. When I was a kid, I was fascinated by koala bears, Savage Garden (heehee), and Australian accents. For some reason or other though, Australia fell off the map, until a couple of years ago, when Mike and I decided to visit.
We hit up Sydney and Melbourne and basically ate our way around – it was awesome, minus me being freaked out by us driving on the “wrong” side of the road. I always felt like Mike was drifting, drifting into opposing traffic. Freak outs aside, we did what we normally do on any vacation, ate ALL the things, checked out the penguins on the beach, and hit up the grocery store for snacks. There were entire aisles dedicated to packages and packages of Tim Tams. I bought myself a tiny package of dark chocolate mint ones, popped in my luggage and promptly forgot about it. When I did finally get to eating it, I was kicking myself for not buying more of them. They tasted exactly like Christmas.
Tim Tams, if you haven’t had them, are malty, crisp chocolate cookies sandwiching a chocolate filling and enrobed in, you got it, more chocolate. They come in so, so many flavors and they’re completely addictive. Which is why, when I saw that Sarah, from The Sugar Hit, had a Tim Tam recipe in her new book, The Sugar Hit!: Sweets That Pack a Punch!, I knew I had to make them. Her books is filled to the brim with cute anecdotes, punchy colorful pics, and the most sweet-tooth satisfying recipes out there.
I followed Sarah’s recipe to a tee, but I couldn’t resist slipping in a touch of pumpkin spice because, apparently I’m basic like that. Regardless, these guys are the perfect stand in if you’re missing Australia, wanting pumpkin spice in a cookie format, or even if you’re just a sandwich cookie fiend. Go forth Tim Tam and maybe even do a Tim Tam slam?
PS – I’m deep into my obsession with Australia now. I just finished a Dance Academy Netflix marathon watching session and even though the show is not remotely targeted at people my age and I don’t dance, I can’t stop, won’t stop. (Read this article if you want a little insight into its incredible addictivity. But, um, Christian forever, forget Ethan.)
PPS – I’m a huge fan of Sarah and her photography and even more so of her savories so even though I’m really excited about this book, I’m even more excited about her next book! Congrats Sarah!
Pumpkin Spice Tim Tam Cookies slightly adapted from Sarah Coates’ The Sugar Hit
makes 14 sandwich cookies
Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
- 1 cup flour
- pinch of salt
Filling
- 4 ounces butter
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon malted milk drink powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice*
Chocolate Coating
- 7 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Fold in the flour and salt. The dough will be very soft. Turn out onto parchment paper and top with another sheet. Roll into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Place on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two trays with baking paper.
Take the dough out of the freezer and slice into 28 rectangles (1 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches). Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Make the filling: cream the butter until soft, then sift the remaining ingredients and beat until well combined. Sandwich the filling between the cookies and chill in the fridge while you make the chocolate coating.
Combine the chocolate and coconut oil in a heat proof bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until the chocolate is slightly melted. Stir until smooth. Dip chilled cookies the coating and place in the fridge to set. Enjoy!
*Optional: Leave out the pumpkin spice if you want to try the Original Tim Tams in Sarah’s book!
GIRL. I’m obsessed with Australia too! I try to talk in an Australian accent but…it’s like not okay. Lovely! <3
I love this fun little pumpkin spice version!! So flipping delicious!
um i’m definitely all christian forever too (don’t even get me started on ben even if he is nice and his sammy tribute ughhh). the only redeeming thing about ethan is being related to kat, who is basically my favorite girl on the show. okay, sorry, i’m done.
I was getting really into documentaries on Netflix, both ballet and food, so when it recommended a show about an Australian dance academy, I assumed it was a real company. It was clear after about 1 minute that this was not the case, but it was too late. Finished all 3 seasons way too quickly and wished desperately that I had someone to discuss things with. And duh, Christian 4ever :-)
Guess I need to keep up the obsession and make these cookies ASAP! Thanks!
I love Tim Tams! And I also obsess over Australian things, primarily Australian Masterchef! (Try one episode, you’ll be hooked!) This is the perfect post.
I’d never heard of Tim Tams until today, and OMG do these look good!
Good lord, these photos! And these cookies, they look absolutely amazing. Also love that you love Savage Garden, I went through a few years of pure obsession myself in my preteens, squeee!
oooohhhmygosh get away from me with these! My brother and his wife met in Australia, and Tim Tams have become our family’s special drug. Sometimes you can find them in grocery stores here, other times they are impossible to obtain! I can’t waaaaiiiit to attempt this recipe.
It’s a little bit scary how much these look like real tim tams! Bravooo
This is the second Tim Tam recipe I’ve seen in the last day or so, what a treat. They look brilliant! Nice to see our favourite bikkie being honoured so well :)
Oh my goodness, this looks incredible! Can’t wait to try :)
Ooh! I’d love to try making these in a low carb version! They look so yummy
I loved my month-long visit to Australia as a teenager. Chocolate mint Tim Tams are the best ;-)
But yes – Dance Academy! I’m 50 years old and I loved that show. I had to watch it on crappy YouTube uploads and didn’t realize it was on Netflix now. I still have the last three episodes of the series on my hard drive and have watched them periodically.
There was another Australian teen series about a surf school that was pretty interesting, too. Why are American teen dramas so insipid compared to Australian ones?
Oh, and I totally agree with Catriona – Australian Masterchef is the best! So much better than the American version. More instruction, less “I’m gonna get her off the show” type contestant drama, more episodes (!!!).
I used to live in the UK and they too drive on the “wrong” ide of the road, the most impressive for me was the roundabouts !!! how scary!!! Thanks for this super cool recipe :)
australia loves you too!! also we might be stealing the pumpkin spice idea…… :D
I’ve never actually had a tim tam, but they sound amazing! I really ought to try one sometime. Love this pumpkin spice variation :)
!!!!!
Wow Sarah’s book sounds amazing! Having grown up with tim-tams they are no longer as addictive as they once were, but I can imagine how homemade ones would be about 10000x better again. And we had that same feeling of being on the wrong side of the round driving in the US last holidays – talk about freaky! Glad you love Australia – next time you will have to visit NZ and try Mallowpuff cookies and hokey-pokey ice cream! :)
They’re sooo cute! I’ve never had them, never been to Australia either.. But I can imagine how incredibly good they must be!! Craving one, or actually all of them, right now.. (:
Mmmm! I think I found the perfect thanksgiving treat for this year! :)
LET’S GO TO AUSTRALIA!! and hang with Sarah and eat tim tams and all that good stuff!!!!!! Also, your tim tams are PERFECT!! and I love that they’re a little basic.
These look DELICIOUS! I can’t get enough pumpkin spice right now (nor can any other basic girl apparently) ;) I’ll definitely be trying these! Great photography, too!n Thank you for sharing!
Pumpkin Everything!!! Welcome Fall!
Savage Garden! hehe. i love it. I am so stoked on Australia too but have never been – maybe one day?? I was sent some Tim Tams in the mail recently and I was not disappointed. Woh. I love how much I want to destroy (ie devour) every one of these photos, Steph. Enrobe me!!!
Wow!! Parang interesting ang food na to.. Kung baga e unique to. Cookies made of pumpkin! Keep it up poh!
It’s look delicious! Cookies made of pumpkin? Wow! Amazing and unique! I hope someday i can taste it! :)