The items sold at Costco in the US include ingredients such as Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 1, which aren’t included in those sold in the original home of the Tim Tam.
Australians are unhappy Tim Tams are being described as cookies by Americans. Photo / arnotts.com
Despite the success of the chocolatey treat in North America, Aussies have taken exception to Tim Tams being called “cookies”.
“Shut up yank, it’s a biscuit,” one online commenter said.
Another pondered the “concept” of a Tim Tam being a cookie, while others were more threatening for using the term.
“They’re not cookies mate. They’re biscuits,” another user wrote.
Another was less aggressive in their approach to the term “cookie”.
“First time I’ve heard them called a cookie!” they said.
“But whatever you call them, they are delicious.”
In the US, the term biscuit is commonly applied to something more like a scone, whereas the term cookie encompasses food items that may be considered to be a biscuit in New Zealand or Australia.
Tim Tams were inspired by a similar British biscuit, the Penguin, which consists of two rectangular chocolate biscuits with chocolate-flavour cream in the middle and covered in chocolate.
Ian Norris, a food technologist from Arnott’s, which manufactures Tim Tams, was inspired by the treat while on a trip to Britain in 1958 and decided to create his own version.