Happy July, dear friends! We’re beginning this beautiful month with a biscuit from Down Under. We’re tasting a familiar friend, Tim Tam… but this isn’t the usual milk chocolate-filled Tim Tam! From the creators of this chocolate-laden biscuit comes a re-imagined Crafted Collection range of these classic Australian bikkies. I hereby introduce the latest member of the summer snack stash: Moreton Bay Raspberry and Dark Choc Tim Tam.

The lovely red-ish package caught my eye when I was walking past one of the shelves at my local supermarket. In fact, the entire shelf was filled with this item in particular – it was a pretty sight! Stopping in front of the shelf to take a closer look at the rows of these intriguing biscuits, I was surprised to learn that they are actually Tim Tams!

Tim Tam isn’t a stranger to dipping its feet (more like its biscuits) into the dark chocolate universe. Dark chocolate is one of the standard year-round Tim Tam selections at the biscuit aisle in Australia (and here in the Lion City as well), but the inclusion of a raspberry filling instead of a chocolate filling is special. With my heightened curiosity about this Tim Tam’s taste, I couldn’t leave without a pack of these biscuits in my haul!

Raspberries & Moreton Bay

Tim Tam has dabbled in the raspberry sphere previously, and the fruit is making its return into the bikkie through the Crafted Collection. In the Crafted Collection’s spirit of featuring ingredients sourced from different locations in Australia, this treat stars raspberries that are grown in Queensland’s Moreton Bay region. Located roughly an hour north of Brisbane, the region is home to lovely small towns (fun fact: the famous Gibb brothers from The Bee Gees lived in the Redcliffe area).

Foodies tend to think of Moreton Bay bugs (a type of lobster – not actual bugs!) when it comes to fresh produce from the region, but, it is home to lush berry farms as well. Fruit-picking and farm tours are some of the fun activities that visitors can participate in. From bits of sleuthing, I discovered that Tim Tam’s raspberry supply comes from a Moreton Bay-based, family-run business that specializes in frozen fruits from fresh produce that are sourced from Australian farms. Thinking of all the juicy raspberries certainly made me want to taste the Tim Tam even more!

Hello, Biscuits!

The Tim Tam’s exterior looks exactly like the classic one’s, but there is more to this seemingly ‘normal’ biscuit than meets the eye at first glance. Splitting a biscuit into half, I was greeted by a delightful sight: sitting in the center of the biscuit is a soft and smooth layer of deep berry-pink cream that exclaims ‘Raspberry!’ Looking closely at all the layers, the treat reminds me of decadent chocolate cakes with raspberry buttercream in a thick chocolate ganache frosting aesthetics-wise, but in the form of a Tim Tam.

The biscuit slabs that sandwich the raspberry cream are perfectly crumbly and crunchy, hence complementing the cream’s softness and decadence in a true Tim Tam fashion. With the exceptions of a deeper cocoa hue and a coat of dark chocolate, the two biscuit slabs resemble the ones that are used in the original Tim Tam.

The idea of munching on a raspberry and choc biscuit brings summer vibes, especially on a fine day here in the Lion City. This Tim Tam’s soul reminds me of December summers at coastal regions in Australia, where the sun always shines brilliantly. Munching on berry-filled treats and relaxing with waterfront views is an ultimate summery day, and adding some chocolate to the tea menu makes it more blissful! Without further ado, let’s taste the biscuit!

Taste Test

Raspberry’s tart note arose instantly in my introductory bite. From reading the ingredients list, I learnt that the berry’s flavor in the flavorful cream is credited to one ingredient in particular: 0.48% Moreton Bay Raspberry Powder, which equates to 5.6% of fresh raspberries. My hunch is that ‘raspberry powder’ is freeze-dried raspberries in a powdered form. Although the raspberry’s presence is prominent, its tartness level is pleasant to the palate. It does have a slight sweet undertone, which is a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment from a foodie perspective.

Once my taste buds were well-acquainted with raspberry (after my second bite, to be precise), the flavors blossomed into a raspberry-chocolate collaboration. Chocolate’s rich taste and raspberry’s tartness are two peas in a pod, as they complement each other nicely.

In the chocolate department, the smooth dark chocolate coat’s gentle bitter cocoa notes and the two chocolate biscuit slabs blend to form a chocolate-laden experience. To my taste buds, the chocolate-coated biscuit pieces possess a light reminiscence to the original Tim Tam. With the inclusion of dark chocolate, the individual biscuit pieces aren’t as sweet and milky (in a milk chocolate sense) as the original version. Even so, they aren’t as bitter as eating a block of dark chocolate, which is music to milk chocolate-loving palates.

Being one of the most adored combinations in the baking realm, raspberry and dark chocolate tend to unite contrasting tastes for a journey across three experiences: tartness, sweetness and bitterness. As a whole, this Tim Tam ticks those three boxes. Each bite is a delicious combination of mild tartness, a dash of sweetness and a sprinkle of bitterness. Overall, it is a nice experience!