That's Noice!

A few years ago I had a Tim Tam milkshake in a cafe in Newtown, and I’ve never forgotten how fantastic it was. Ever since, I vowed to recreate it at home.

It’s taken me a long time, but I finally got around to it! The things I do in the name of research for That’s Noice ;)

Tim Tam milkshake (1 serve)

Ingredients:

1. 1 x packet of Original Tim Tams (on special at my supermarket this week, yay!)
2. Milk (probably about 250ml)
3. Optional: vanilla icecream if you want it really thick
4. Optional: Milo or similar if you want it really chocolate-y

Method:

1. Blend milk and about 3 Tim Tams (and ice cream and Milo if you want) until the Tim Tams are finely blended
2. Add 2 more Tim Tams, but don’t blend them quite so finely this time
3. Pour the mixture into your glass – chilled if it’s a hot day
4. Chop and crush 1 last Tim Tam to sprinkle on top of your creation

The biggest mistake I made was that I was too lazy to go up the street and buy full cream milk to make this, so just used the skim milk we had in the fridge – full cream milk would be TONNES better!

Here’s the gratuitous food porn shot:

So it’s not exactly something I’d make every week – maybe every year ;)

This is an adapation of the Cookies’n'Cream (i.e. Oreo) cupcake recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. As delish as the cupcakes were, I wanted to try an Aussie version, and what better iconic Australian bikkie to use but the humble Tim Tam?

Ingredients for cake mixture (makes 12-18, depending on your preferred cupcake size)
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g sugar (I assume castor!)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
180ml single cream
½ packet Tim Tams (or more/less, to taste)

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting
180g white chocolate, broken into pieces
180g cream cheese, cut into pieces
185g unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
½ packet Tim Tams (or more/less, to taste)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and single cream and beat until batter is smooth. Fold in crushed Tim Tams
4. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, to about ⅔ full
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool

(I didn’t have cream, so used milk; while not bad, I’d suggest you stick with cream in this recipe – it really does make a difference)

Cream cheese frosting

1. In a large bowl over simmering water melt white chocolate until smooth and creamy. It should be just warm to the touch
2. Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and beat again until smooth
3. Use frosting immediately or it will harden
4. Sprinkle crushed Tim Tams immediately, while frosting is still soft

(I was feeling brave and just used melted white chocolate mixed in with crushed Tim Tams, hence the ugly-looking finished product. Follow the frosting recipe properly and you’ll have a much better result!)

Given the nature of Tim Tams, the flavour isn’t very strong when in cupcake form. But I think increasing the Tim Tam quantities slightly would help that along, and what’s not to love about the idea of a Tim Tam cupcake? When I took this test batch to work, you should have seen everyone’s eyes light up at the mention of them! You have to try them, at the very least :)