(AP)
With the fate of the Twinkie still in the balance, there's a good chance you may have to explain what a Twinkie is to your grand kids.
The first Twinkies were rolled out of the oven in 1930 by Continental Baking Co. The company got the name for the snack from a billboard for Twinkle Toe Shoes--and shortened it to Twinkies. The original recipe actually included some wholesome ingredients, including a banana-cream filling, but over the years, the butter, eggs, and milk were replaced with chemicals and stabilizers; a banana shortage during World War II made vanilla the standard Twinkie filling flavor.
Today version is the iconic, corn syrup-filled snack we all know and love with its storied, indestructible shelf life. (Despite the rumors they're good only about a month, so you better start stocking up.)
But if you can't live in a world without the Twinkie's creme-stuffed goodness, you could try your hand at making them at home.
Todd Wilbur, who runs the website Top Secret Recipes, says he can clone both the Twinkie and its filling with store bought ingredients.
“The whole point of cloning,” Wilbur told FoxNews.com back in February is to replicate the exact taste and texture of the original. Wilbur uses whatever works, no matter how unorthodox or unusual the method or ingredients.
Wilbur’s DIY Twinkie recipe folds stiff egg-whites into store-bought cake mix that you blend only with water, not the usual egg and oil. The filling is a whole jar of marshmallow creme, powered sugar and Crisco. This dessert just may stick around longer than you would like.
Check out his filling recipe here:
Pastry chef Ashton Warren of Restaurant Marc Forgione says it's time for a Twinkie re-do for the 21st Century. While it's not easy capturing the time-honored taste of the classic vanilla sponge cake snack, she whips up a healthier version that is equally sweet and delicious.
While it looks like twilight for the Twinkie as we know it, knock-off cream-filled sponge cake may appear, so we're not saying goodbye to our beloved Twinkies just yet.
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