In short:
The UK’s rival version of a Tim Tam, the Penguin, is now labelled as “chocolate flavour” because it no longer meets the UK’s definition of chocolate.
Rising cocoa prices have led to some manufacturers changing the recipes of chocolate products to the point they can no longer be legally defined as chocolate.
What’s next?
Tim Tam maker Arnott’s says it has no plans to change its recipe. Cocoa commodity prices are starting to fall but retail chocolate prices are expected to remain high for some time.
I’ll buy the Aldi Tim Tam knockoffs when Tim Tams have been full-price for too long. I refuse to pay $6-$7 for 11 biscuits, but will pick up a few packets when I find them half-price and use them up over the subsequent weeks.
The Aldi “Divines” are like most Aldi knock-off products: Not as good as the real deal, but close enough that you don’t really miss the real product. And they’re even a little cheaper than half-price Tim Tams.
Until this article, I’d never heard of Penguins. But I know the brand McVities and I like their Digestives, I’d probably have been willing to give Penguins a chance.
The Aldi ones in the USA have the catchy name of “Aussie-style chocolate coated wafer cookies”
…which somehow isn’t as bad as the name of the Trader Joe’s ones: “Aussie-style chocolate creme sandwich cookies coated in chocolate”
They’re both manufactured in the Netherlands.
Not quite as good as legit Tim Tams, but they’re 85% of the way there at half the price of legit Tim Tams imported from Australia.