Vegan Chocolate Mint Tim Tams, version 1

When I was pondering what to make over the 3-day long weekend (because, as I'm sure you all know, something will be made over a 3-day long weekend - and very likely multiple somethings), the idea for vegan chocolate mint Tim Tams came to me in a flash.

Although several commercial vegan Tim Tam-like biscuits are available, they are generally expensive, don't taste quite right (to me), and have a long and artificial-y ingredient list. They might be vegan, but with a few notable exceptions, they don't generally appeal to me.

Although I rarely had Tim Tams before veganising aspects of my diet, I thought it would be fun to try and create a mint version at home. Mint and chocolate combinations are a firm favourite of mine and Mr Bite's, so it's a flavour that is usually safe when trying out new recipes.

I am calling these Version 1 because my original plan was to create a mint filling from soy condensed milk, with cornflour to thicken it, and peppermint essence. I still can't find soy condensed milk (I am sure it is somewhere in Western Australia, but I'm yet to discover precisely where) so I used soy evaporated milk instead.

If I ever locate condensed milk, I will try that for Version 2.

In the meantime, I'm quite happy to present Version 1.

Vegan Chocolate Mint Tim Tams

Makes 16 biscuits

Drawing inspiration from...

Arnott's

Lisa @ Bake Bike Blog - gluten-free tim tams 

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe - an adaptation of Lisa's original

Mel @ Veganise This - vegan choc mint balls

Ingredients:

• 1 250g packet Arnott's Nice biscuits (or any other plain vegan biscuits, or biscuit of your choice)
• 200g dairy-free chocolate (I used 100g Sweet William's dairy-free milk chocolate and 100g Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate and found this to work very well)
• 1/4 cup soy evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Instructions:

1. Take 16 Nice biscuits and break them in half. You will use 2 biscuit halves for each final chocolate biscuit.

2. Combine the soy evaporated milk, icing sugar and peppermint extract in a microwave proof bowl. Heat on medium power for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until the ingredients are well combined and the mixture has thickened slightly (you could, of course, also do this over the stove top). 

3. Place the peppermint mixture in the freezer for ~5 minutes, to cool.

4. Crumble 3 - 4 Nice biscuits into small, crumb-size pieces. Add these to the peppermint mixture when it has cooled. This won't look particularly attractive - don't worry!

4. Spread a few tsp of the peppermint mixture onto one of the half biscuit pieces. You want enough mixture to cover the whole of the biscuit base. Top with another half biscuit piece, to sandwich the peppermint filling. Repeat for the remaining biscuits.

Again, this won't look particularly attractive - don't worry!

5. Place the peppermint-filled biscuits in the freezer to set, about 20 minutes.

6. Melt your chocolate in a heat proof bowl, in the microwave or over a double boiler system on the stove top. (I actually melted my chocolate in two lots; if you do it all at once, you may need to return the mixture to the heat halfway through the biscuit construction.)

7. Dip each biscuit into the chocolate mixture, to coat. Alternatively, use a spoon to cover each biscuit with chocolate. I alternated between these two approaches.

8. Place each chocolate coated biscuit on a baking tray lined with baking paper. When all biscuits are coated, place them in the freezer to set, about 15 - 20 minutes. Then transfer to the fridge for storage.

The verdict?

Delicious.

Mr Bite and I both really liked the chocolate coating (Lindt + Sweet William's = a good outcome) and the biscuit filling. He would have liked more peppermint flavour, but I found it to be enough. Depending on your tastes, you may want to play around with the quantity of peppermint essence.

The filling wasn't quite what I had envisioned (that's where Version 2 will come in, if I can track down that soy condensed milk) but overall, I was very happy with these.

They're definitely a decadent product (and I think best kept for occasional consumption!) but the making and eating were certainly enjoyable. What's more, there are no unpronounceable ingredients in sight.

Are you a chocolate biscuit fan? Do you have a favourite variety?

Tweet

Pin It