Nostalgic Baking #1 Recreating My Favourite Australian Treats: Tim Tams
NOSTALGIC BAKING #1:
Recreating My Favourite Australian Treat: Tim Tams.
Why Tim Tams are pure nostalgia to me.
I remember it like it was yesterday. The day I tried Tim Tams for the first time. During my travels to Australia, it was one of the first ever typical Australian things I tried.
STORYTIME:
In the first week of me landing in the land down under I did a group trip along the Great Ocean Road. I met amazing people, discovered my favourite place on earth and unforgettably met some kangooroos & koalas for the first time. On that trip I received a proper initiation into Australian culture. Evidently, like a true Australian, we obviously had to try out the famous ‘Tim Tam Slam”. Oh. My. Word. Instantly sold!
Consequently, I did end up bringing a few packs of Tim Tams home. It seemed only fair I made my fellow Belgians try them. I guess that explains part the 7 kilos of excessive luggage I left behind and have yet to pick up again over there. Unsurprisingly, they were gone quite quickly. Ever since, I have been looking around the shops to see if they are available ANYWHERE at all. To this day: no luck. Therefore, it felt only appropriate that I take matters into my own hands and recreate them myself!
LET's GET TO RECREATING TIM TAMS!
RECIPE sEARCH
Firstly, I had no clue how to go about this. I had never made these before. So, I went looking for a recipe that seemed reliable and fairly simple to achieve. I eventually ended up using this recipe that I found on a lovely culinary blog called: “A Beautiful Plate“. The writer of this blog is a professionally trained chef and I highly recommend you check it out if you need inspiration for recipes of all kinds.
The recipe itself was really quite simple. It takes a while to achieve since you are working on 3 different components: the cookie dough, the filling and the coating. But *Spoiler Alert* The result is totally worth it!
INGREDIENTS
COOKIE DOUGH:
- 115 grams unsalted butter
- 115 grams granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 30 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- 150 grams all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
FILLING:
- 115 grams unsalted butter
- 125 grams powdered confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
COATING
- 200 grams chocolate (I used a mix of both milk and dark chocolate)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
BAKING METHOD
Click open the step you are working on to keep track of where you are at in the recipe!
Enjoy the process. You will love the end result, trust me.
Firstly, let’s make the cookie dough.
- Mix together the butter & sugar until pale.
- Next, add the egg & beat the mixture until everything is well combined and lighter in colour.
- Make sure to scrape the bowl, so you mix in everything nicely.
- Sift in the cacao powder into your mixture and mix thoroughly again.
- Finally, sift in your flower & a pinch of salt.
- Mix everything on a low speed until well combined & there are no lumps.
At this stage, the dough will be sticky and might be hard to shape & roll out. I put the batter into a piece of clingfilm to create a rectangle shaped dough. It makes it easier to roll out a flat rectangle to cut the cookies out of.
- Place the dough onto parchment paper and add parchment paper on top to roll into a flat rectangle.
- Make sure your dough is pretty thin. I’d say around 0.6 cm thin, but let’s be real, I go with what looks right. The cookies won’t rise, but when assembled there are many layers. Thin but even is the key.
- Now put this on a tray and pop in the freezer for 45 minutes.
Now, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius (350 Farenheit).
- Now, take the dough of the freezer.
(You could cut the dough into cookies now. However, if you notice it is too sticky, wait until after the dough is out of the oven.) - Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Truly every oven works a bit different, so keep an eye on it. The dough will be soft when it comes out the oven.
- Still need to cut them? If you haven’t cut them into cookie shapes before, quickly cut them when the dough is still warm. By doing this, you will manage to make a uniform shape without having them break or crumble
- Tim tams are about 3 cm x 6 cm . Of course, you can make them whatever size you wish!
- Finally, let the cookies cool and go over to making the filling!
- Simply cream the butter until soft.
- Sift in the confectioners sugar and cacao powder with the butter.
- Finally, mix the ingredients until well combined and fluffy.
ASSEMBLY:
- Grab one cookie and add a generous teaspoon of filling. Spread that evenly.
- Then put a second cookie on top.
- TIP: Be generous with the filling, you can always scrape away leftover filling from the sides of the cookie when adding the second cookie on top.
- Let the cookies chill in te refrigerator. In the meanwhile, let’s prep the coating.
- Boil some water on your stove and add a heat proof bowl on top of that.
- Combine your chocolate of choice with your coconut oil into the heatproof bowl.
I used milk chocolate and some dark chocolate. - let that melt and gently stir every now and then until smooth.
Now the coating itself is the iffiest part. here’s what I did to TRY and achieve the most neat coating
- I coat one side of the cookies by dipping them in the chocolate.
- Place the dipped cookies onto a cooling rack with the coated side on top.
- Cool the coating by putting them in the fridge for a while or even the freezer (not too long) if possible.
- When the coat has hardened dip the other side into chocolate to get a full coating.
- Pop some air bubbles in the coating if needed.
- Then let them cool again until the coating is hard.
What more to say then…. Don’t eat them all at once. ENJOY!
