So this afternoon, whilst I waited for Miss A to wake from her nap, I made myself a cup of tea, pulled out a couple of Tim Tams  and started to make a list of the things I had to do to get ready for our long weekend of camping.  It’s Australia Day this coming Monday and we’re off camping with some friends out at a lake not far from where we live.

But after another rough night (incidentally, how do they know to wake up just as you lay down to go to sleep – how do they know?!!!), I wanted to sit in silence, write my lists and figure out what to write for today’s post. And sometimes you just need to have a little quiet time to wait for inspiration to strike and thankfully for me, that’s what happened this afternoon. I was enjoying my little tea break and pondering upon fabulous words I might string together as a post today when I realised that I had been engaging in, without thought, an iconic Australian pastime. Yes, I was subconsciously doing a Tim Tam Slam!

Now, I appreciate that not all of my glorious readers will appreciate the wonder that is the Tim Tam Slam (aka Tim Tam Explosion, Tim Tam Bomb – depending on which State you’re from! I’m originally from Queensland if anyone wanted to know).  If you’re not from our fabulous country, you may not even know what a Tim Tam is, so let’s start at the start.

This is a Tim Tam:

Tim Tams are a layered chocolate coated, chocolate biscuit filled with a chocolate vanilla cream and as far as chocolate biscuits go, they are the crème de la crème of the category!

So what is a Tim Tam Slam?? Well, I had a crack a photographing my attempt at a Tim Tam Slam – let’s see if you can figure it out:

Did you get it? Tim Tams are the perfect vehicle to suck your favourite hot beverage – be it tea, coffee or for a complete and utter sugar overload, a hot chocolate.  For me, it’s tea.  The Tim Tam effectively acts as a straw, sucking up the hot beverage through the two corners that you bite off before commencing (see #2).  Once those corners have been bitten off, the outer crust exposes the inner biscuit and cream layers which then soak up the beverage, melting the biscuit from the inside out! That’s the best bit. Pure gooey, melted chocolatey goodness and I’m actually not that big a chocolate fan.  But Tim Tam Slams are that good!  As you can see from pic #6, the inside of the Tim Tam collapses – the one on top has been sucked and was about to be slammed, the bottom one is the original biscuit.

The trick however is to get the timing right.  Don’t suck long enough and you’re left with a biscuit that still retains it’s crunch – if that happens, you’re doing it wrong – suck longer! But… suck it too long and you run the risk of losing the lot into the bottom of your mug! It’s all about the timing! Once you’ve got your timing down, you can choose to flip the biscuit and shove the gooey end first into your mouth.  I don’t do that – I simply don’t have coordination, so I just shove it in however it goes!  Although the Tim Tam Slam is risky business for newbies, once you have the knack, you have it for life.  The last time I had one was easily before Miss A was born so at least 8 months ago. I didn’t realise I was even doing it until I reached for my second one!

Whilst searching for a picture of a Tim Tam, I came across quite a number of different instructional images. It would appear us Aussies are a sharing bunch and clearly not afraid to share this National past time.

Even Jennifer Love Hewitt knows how to Tim Tam Slam:

So there you have it people… The Tim Tam Slam… I encourage you all to give it a try.  Here, I’ll even assist you in getting your hands on some Tim Tams:

Aussie Food Shop ships worldwide – http://www.aussiefoodshop.com/australian_food_home.html

I have also used Aussie Products to buy things to send to some of my US friends http://www.aussieproducts.com/timtam.asp

And if you try it let me know how you go 🙂

Have you given the Tim Tam Slam a go before? Do you have a different ritual involving an unusual combination foods or method of eating them?