The other day, I was walking through Woolworths after a particularly gruelling three-hour boxing session* when I made the mistake of passing the health food aisle.
I normally bypass that area of the shop in favour of the produce, pasta, and peanut butter aisles, because in those aisles I get to ask myself the following exciting questions:
“Is the broccoli or cabbage cheaper this week?”
“Can I afford the wholemeal pasta today?”
“Should I get three or four jars of peanut butter to last me until Friday**?”
Ah, the life of a PhD scholarship student. What larks!
As you might surmise from the above, there are two reasons I usually avoid the health food aisle. First, it doesn’t start with the letter “P”, and second, that way lies expense. If I wander too far past the invisible borders of Health Food Land, I will inevitably find that pricey-pricey cashew butter, organic oat bran, and strange sugar free chocolates fall into my shopping basket.
It’s not my fault, I promise.
Anyway, this particular day, I was so addled by my boxing exertions (ha! Gotcha again!) that I found myself facing the Macro range of Woolworths products. And you know what fell into my basket?
Gluten free vegan Tim Tam-replicas. Fo’ shizzle. They exist.
Macro Wholefoods Market Gluten Free Double Choc Biscuits
Just like real Tim Tams, these vegan and gluten-free chocolate treats are comprised of two rectangular chocolate biscuits sandwiching a chocolate cream, all of which is encased in chocolate. For those who like to know such things, here are the ingredients: sucrose, dairy free compound chocolate (sugar, palm oil, cocoa mass, emulsifier), gluten free flour (tapioca, chickpea, rice, corn), vegetable shortening (palm oil, antioxidant), cocoa powder, flavours, raising agent, and salt.
Mmm. Compound chocolate and shortening. Deeeeee-licious! Particularly as these faux-Tim Tams have less than .1g of trans fat per 100g, and also no galactose. Hurrah! Our bodies aren’t about to be invaded by space aliens! (Don’t even try to tell me that “galactose” doesn’t sound like space aliens to you.)
What, you want to know what these taste like instead of listening to a lengthy digression about space aliens? Really? Well, okay, but I can’t say I understand you.
The aroma of these was all biscuit (cookie, to you Americans), no chocolate. In fact, that’s pretty much the overall gist of these Double Choc Biscuits, as while they were pleasantly sweet with some nice contrasting textures, they were sorely lacking in chocolate flavour.
For a gluten free product, the biscuit components were surprisingly good, with a nice balance between crunchy and crumbly. The cream filling was generically sweet, but inoffensive. It tasted a little like buttercream, but without the richness that comes from, well, butter. The chocolate coating didn’t have a whole lot of flavour, but at least wasn’t greasy or insipid.
Overall these were quite nice, but were nowhere near as rich and decadent as an Arnott’s Tim Tam. (I meant to put these Macro vegan Tim Tam-ish bikkies through the real test – the Tim Tam slam – but I accidentally ate them all before I could.) The biscuits are innocuous, and I do think they’d make a nice, easy treat to have on hand for vegan/allergic kids so that they don’t feel left out at snack time. So that’s something.
* Complete lie. Have you seen what I look like? As if those piddly little arms could swing more than three punches in a row without getting tired and needing a chocolate pick-me-up. Hmm. I really should start lifting cans of chickpeas in front of the TV or something to work up my strength…
** It’s usually a Wednesday at this point.
{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }
I doubt I’d buy them, but I’m so glad these exist… I hate the thought of any child growing up without the experience of drinking milk/tea/coffee/whatever using a Tim Tam as the straw, by biting off the opposite corners. It’s been a very important part of my life.
Also, my brain malfunctioned slightly when I saw this post, and I misread ‘Macro’ as ‘mango’, saw the picture, and assumed Tim Tams had released a new, seasonal, tropical flavour. Hahaha.. I was quite excited, to be honest!
Ewww, mango tim tams? I can’t think of anything worse! Each to their own
You know, I’ve probably only done the Tim Tam slam twice in my life. What a sad childhood I must’ve had!
hi hannah I have had the macro chocolate biscuits, very cool, normally
cant eat chocolate unless it is dairy free, i get mine from coles,or
woolies, in my local center, I live in south australia, I make my own bread
and cake if you would like the recipes please dont hesatate to contact
me at my email address, I have been wheat glutin and dairy free, for a very
long time.
yours pat a fellow chocolate liker.
Thank you Pat, it’s lovely to hear from you! And thank you for your lovely offer; it must be very tricky to make your own bread when you’re wheat and gluten free. We’ve always just bought rye bread in my house, not made it ourselves. Hurrah for chocolate lovers everywhere!
Hi hannah its pat again, I found some more dairy free chocolate
called sweet william, the white chocolate is very nice, there have
a full range of chocolate, so cool I get it from my local supermarket
i have also found a manufacture that deals in wheat glutin and dairy
free foods that deliver all over australia, very cool,thought you may
want to know.
making my own bread was very hard to start with, but with a bit of
hard work and not tearing my hair out, I found the right
mix of flours, and adapeded the recipe to suit my food
allegies, yours Mrs Pat Rowden
Hi Pat! I’m a big fan of Sweet William’s white chocolate, as it’s the only vegan white chocolate I’ve found in Australia. Personally I don’t bother with their milk chocolate, but that’s because I don’t really like milk chocolate to begin with
Well done with playing around with the flours for your bread! I think my mum has done a similar thing throughout her life, often using a mix of rye flour and corn flour 
I had come choc mint biscuits from that aisle once. Well I had half one one and had to spit it out *sigh*
Were they by Macro, or those Leda (I think?) ones? I’ve never tried anything by Leda… might have to stay away, judging by your response!
They didn’t have a cream. They were just… wrong. ButI’ve always been a peppermint girl, ie mint slices, peppermint aero, and peppermint cadbury (ahh the burn! love it!) so many it was a mint issue rather than a chocolate one. Either way.
Have you tried Green and Black’s Mint Dark Chocolate? Vegan (the milk powder listed on the ingredients is just because the machinery also makes milk chocolates… I asked), so maybe could fit your food choices every now and again?
I haven’t had that one.
Maybe it’s the sort of thing that could be the row a night sort of treat? It would depend on how sugared it was, I guess.
What is this “row a night” you speak of? Are there really people who are that restrained?
Here’s a link to info if you want to peek at the sugar content 
http://www.greenandblacks.com/anz/what-we-make/bars/mint-fondant.html
Well, it’s great that they exist for gluten-free people, but to be honest I’ve never liked Tim Tams (although I appreciate that they’re an Australian ‘thing’, they’re very popular here too) and always found them a bit greasily oversweet…ugh, even just thinking about them…
BTW I completely believed you! I thought the * was going to say “actually only boxed for an hour not three hours” or something
Hmm, I wonder what else I could make people believe about me through this blog… Marathon runner? Proficient at the ukelele? Oh, the possibilites are endless
I’m not overly enamoured with Tim Tams either, but I definitely don’t think “ugh” when I picture them!
Hmm, hmm, palm oil… wouldn’t that kind of disqualify them from being vegan, on a technicality? I mean unless it says on the packet that the palm oil was ethically and sustainably sourced, it probably wasn’t, in which case its production possibly indirectly caused the death of orangutans, Sumatran tigers, etc etc, when their habitat was destroyed. I can’t find any information online about Macro using sustainable palm oil, only that Woolworths is trying to move to sustainable palm oil for their home brand items (not including Macro) by 2015. So yeah… I don’t know, I tend to feel like it’s impossible to follow vegan principles to their full conclusion because of stuff like this. Bloody palm oil. I try to avoid it where possible but it just sneaks into everything. I’ll be drinking some juice – yum! Juice! What fruits are in this one? Oh, palm oil. Sigh.
But I like Macro though because they have black beans! So I can make delicious Mexican foods and not have to substitute in stupid kidney beans (I have nothing against kidney beans, per se, they’re just not the genuine ingredient for Mexican food).
Am I the only Australian who hates Tim-Tams? If I never saw one again in my life, it would make no difference to me. Yet every Australian I know adores them, and the non-Australians I know love them even more (e.g. my research participant from Paris who was lamenting the lack of beautiful cheese and bread in Australia, but who consoled himself with Tim-Tams, and who was elated when he found out about a specialty store in France that stocks them, and was horrified when I said I didn’t care for them at all).
I’m guessing that Macro is using the vegan label simply because none of the ingredients come from animals. I doubt they’ve even considered the point you brought up about the connection between animal death and palm oil!
Oooh, you’ve reminded me that I have a bag of precisely those Macro black beans somewhere in my pantry! I keep forgetting to soak them, though, which puts the kibosh on using them…
Also, I don’t hate Tim Tams, but I don’t have a passionate love for them either. Haven’t eaten them in years, actually! They do make an easy, and generally well-received, gift for Americans/Europeans though!
lol ive always wanted to box..
If only we lived in the same city, we could actually start together! (I think I’d need a friend to laugh about my puny weakness with
)
There’s a kickboxing working proabbly starting at ANU in a week
It’s usually got lots of puny girls in it!
Oh heavens, kickboxing would absolutely DESTROY my toe! Nice to dream, though
Palm oil. At least they had the balls to list it as ‘palm oil’ and not hide it under the vague ‘vegetable oil’ or ‘vegetable fat’.
So, points for courage, if not for ethics? What a sad world we live in…
I wondered about the palm oil as well (and the three hour boxing sessions- I thought perhaps you’d lost your mind). Once again, I’m glad that you’re out there trying these things for us, so I can just keep eating Tim Tams (but not read the ingredients just in case they have palm oil too).
Ignorance is bliss, right?
Teehee, I think I will have lost my mind if I ever box for even one hour!
Hannah, things just jump into my shopping trolley too. I blame the aliens
And their galacticatose.
oh my gosh, these look so good!
They were passable!
I’ve found that a lot of vegan chocolate foods don’t really taste all that chocolate-y, which would make a lot of sense. I recently tasted a local vegan bakery and some of the goods were wonderful, but the chocolate cupcakes were, sadly, not chocolate-y tasting. It was disappointing, because the frosting was marvelous. (A perfect not too sweet but still very tasty type.) The palmiers, for instance, were superb.
Hmm, I shall have to trust your judgement on this one, as I’m rarely interested in chocolate baked goods anyway, vegan or not! Give me some caramel or lemon-based any day
For a vegan chocolate craving I’d just opt for, well, vegan chocolate 
Must say that I’m not passionate about Tim Tam’s either (and can’t eat them these days anyhow) but I could quite happily eat one with my black coffee.
Now, here’s a story. Last time we visited the US, we had marked “food” on our customs form, but before customs we had to go through immigration/passport control (whatever it’s called) and got a rather chatty official as we were doing the finger printing etc stuff. He looked at our form, and said “Ah, so you’ve brought some Tim Tams”! Oh dear… are we that predicable. We had, of course, for the Americans we were visiting.
A *chatty* customs official?! Now that’s the part of your story that I find most interesting!
But just think, at least it was a good stereotype you were conforming to, rather than one of the more ocker ones!
Gotta say the Tim Tam came into & then went pretty quickly out of my life about the same time as it was cool to drink your chokky milk through them while giggling with your brother watching cartoons which to me was an awesome timeframe & a serious not to be missed phase of childhood, so glad there is a GF equivalent for all those intolerant’s out there.
Totally relate with those pesky items that somehow manage to jump into your basket in the supermarket though!! Troublesome little budget crushing gremlins for sure.
Sometimes I think we should start a gremlin-patrol and kick the little blighters to kingdom come… but then I think, hey, I quite like it when they sneak things into my basket
I have that same problem in just about every aisle in the grocery store!
That’s why it’s very important that I make a list, and know the layout of the place, and most importantly, not go in hungry. I mean, what is willpower when confronted with chocolate-filled, chocolate-dipped chocolate cookies?
The rational part of me agrees with you… and yet going shopping without a list and scouring each aisle for new products and buying food I definitely don’t need = happy place to me
Aamzingly enough, my impulse purchase today was three cans of legumes. WOOT.
You need me to come over and be the Mickey to your Rocky! I can hear Eye of the Tiger already!!
Admission… I’ve never seen Rocky. But I can belt that song out with the best of ‘em!
I would be tempted to taste these as well – the health food aisle is like that – I rarely have tim tams and yet the idea of tasting gf vegan version is just has to be done
and wasn’t there a Dr Who episode when he fought the aliens from glactose
Hmm, unless it was from the David Tennant series I probably haven’t see it
(I miss him.)
That was exactly my reaction, too. Tim Tams? Yeah yeah. Vegan Tim Tams? MUST TRY.
Hi there was a doctor who episode from glatose doc who was played by
tom baker, i have seen all the doc who,s since it started, is that giving
my age away, i am a huge doc who fan I liked david tennant he was cool
and was from wales,like me, the new doc alright too, but my favourite
was tom baker.
yours pat rowden
So THAT’s what a Tim Tam is like! And vegan and gluten-free, nice find!
Well, yes and no. A real Tim Tam is far chocolatier and tastier
I reckon you should make a raw Tim Tam for your final 105 assessment, in honour of your favourite Australian… (See what I did there? 
)
I did think that 3 or 4 jars of peanut butter to last you until Friday sounded quite restrained. :p
I know, right? That was me trying to sound grown-up.
Ohh goodie! Good to know – not for me, so much, I eat the real stuff
– but for my clients and friends who are vegan. I’m going to go to my boxing class now too…
Heidi xo
Thing is, I can’t help suspecting that *your* boxing class is more likely to be real!
What with your amazingness and all…
naw! hehe. no, not real. imaginary
In that case, meet you for a session this afternoon?
Does anyone know where I could purchase these in the United States?
Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll have much luck in that regard, as Macro is the organic brand of a supermarket chain here in Australia
Then is it possible to have some shipped to the United States?
Gosh, I have no idea! You’d have to talk to the company itself about that
Great to see that they’re dairy-free too! But being allergic to soy, however, these (along with most GF chocolate cookies) don’t really go down well.
Would be good to see Woolies actually producing some FreeFrom chocolate products that took soy into account. Even in the UK where I went recently all their chocolate cookies included soy flour in the milk-free chocolate…
Have you considered writing to Woolies about this? It sounds like more and more people may be needing to take soy into account too, and perhaps FreeForm already thinks it’s hitting the nail on the head? However, FreeForm does often only take one dietary consideration into account at a time – ie most of the gluten-free products have dairy, etc…
I wrote to LEDA, another gluten free cookie company, for them to consider some soy free chocolate biscuits. I got their reply a couple of days ago:
“Thank you for your interest in Leda Nutrition products. We manufacture wheat/gluten and dairy free biscuits and bars which are also free from egg, added yeast and animal products. This restricts the ingredients we can use in order to maintain this status. We are aware that some consumers are intolerant to soy which is a common ingredient in dairy free chocolate. We are in the process of working with our Australian chocolate supplier to provide us with chocolate that in addition to being dairy, egg and gluten free but is also soy free. When this is successful we will be changing to a soy free chocolate wherever possible.
We hope that you continue to enjoy our products and that you can look forward to enjoying some soy free chocolate ones in the near future.”
Woolworths just said they’d ‘pass it along’. I did mention that currently there are no soy-free tim-tam-like cookies on the market, and that they were needed.
You’re like a superhero Anti-Soy crusader!
At least there’s some sort of positive movement with regards to Leda. I guess, as a smaller company, they can get onto queries and requests like this more easily than Woolworths can, with its layers and layers of bureacracy… :S
hi hannah its pat again got new recipe for bread very nice i use self raising flour
wheat glutin and dairy free, rice flour chia bran seeds, 3 eggs soy milk and some
water and some nuttelex marge, wards baking powder, mix it up, place in tin
cook in oven 30 40 mimutes, comes out better than my last bread, more stable,
very cool.
thought you would like to know.
I am 4 foot 11 tall, very skiny, but with a good sense of homour, and a very good
younger brother that helps me when I need the help. pat
hi hannah how was your xmas day mine was very quite, made a meal
for my brother and for myself, quite nice chops spuds carrots for me and
green beans for my brother, and gravey for my brother, i dont use gravey
for my self, cant get one for me with my food problems, but thats ok.
made a loaf of bread today the 27 dec, came out very cool, will be eating
some of it with my tea tonight, will be frezing the rest for later, bye for now
happy new year to you and your family, if you would the bread recipe dont
hesitate to use my email address, bye for pat rowden.
Merry Christmas Pat! It sounds like you had a lovely day and a delicious lunch
I’ve never been one for gravy myself 
I hope you enjoyed your freshly-baked bread with tea! Sounds lovely 
I’m not much of a bread person but I’m sure a homemade loaf would be yum!
hi hannah thanks for replying was very nice bread, had two pieces
froze the rest for later, very plain bread this time, I dont use gravey
my self have not found one that can take, there is a glutin free one
but has onion in it, cant take onion, so may have to make my own.
My brother like his meal very much made him happy.
I found a new pasta range from a company in south australia very nice,
called buona cucina there have four types of pasta now, maccheroni
and three others I get them from the healthy life shops there are
all wheat glutin dairy and nut free, very tastey thought you may want
to know have a nice day yours pat rowden.
Thanks Pat, sounds great!
hi to everyone wishes for a happy and safe new year, and may here from you
in the new year, bye for now, pat s.a.
hi to everybody happy new year,its 9.45 am where i am sunday morning,
1 of jan 2012 how cool is that,have a wonderful new year, if I can help with
wheat free glutin free and dairy free recipes, please dont hesitate to contact
my email address, have quite a few now, bread recipes cake recipes, pasta recipes
so if interested let me know. thanks.
Happy New Year to you too, Pat!
thanks to you hannah have a lovely day bye for now pat.
Can you get these anywhere outside of Australia? I grew up in Papua New Guinea and loved Tim Tams, but now I live in the USA and I have celiac disease so I can’t have gluten. Would love to have Tim Tams again, or something comparable!
I’m not sure, Naomi, unfortunately! I’d recommend emailing to company to ask