Homemade Twinkies

I've only eaten one Hostess Twinkie in my entire life. I remember it vaguely, and I'm not even sure if I ever finished it. It was sometime during high school when I was in marching band. There I was, in my scratchy wool uniform, minding my own business, tooting about with my clarinet when someone pulled out a box of Twinkies. I didn't want one, until everyone found out that I had never had one before. And that was that. Oh how horrible the peer pressures a teenager experiences in marching band. I don't remember what I thought of it, but it must not have been good if I never tried one again.

I don't think I have ever even thought about eating another Twinkie. That is, until last week when someone asked if I could make them. Could I? Sure, why not! Did I know how? No. Did I know what a Twinkie tasted like? Nope. But would I try to make them? You bet!

I did make a mistake that I had a feeling I would regret. A simple online search pulled up a number of recipes including one from Joy the Baker. Althought common sense told me to go straight to Joy, ridiculously I didn't. I figured everyone would use Joy's recipe because she's so reliable! And I thought "I'll find a different recipe and it will be grand!". No. No. No. Not at all. It was not pretty. Look at this, they were even trying to jump out of the pan into the garbage. All by themselves. Even the 'twinkie failures' were embarrassed:
Those were thrown immediately out. No cooling necessary. Before getting discouraged, I washed out the pan and grabbed Joy's recipe (I had already printed it out in case I ended up in this situation!), and went to town.

Although I don't 100% remember what a Twinkie tastes like, I think these might be pretty close. If not, this is what a Twinkie SHOULD taste like. They definitely won't be mistaken for anything else. Light and fluffy with plenty of flavor, and the cream filling is delicious!!!

Twinkie Cake
Printable Recipe
by Joy the Baker, adapted from Gourmet Cookbook

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 3 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)
  
• 1 cup milk
  

1. Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extract.
   
3. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just incorporated.
   
4. Spray prepared Twinkie tins with nonstick spray and divide the batter between the cups.
   
5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just slightly golden and a pick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling with marshmallow cream.

Twinkie Cream
Printable Recipe
Found at Joy the Baker, from Todd Wilbur

• 2 teaspoons very hot water
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 cups marshmallow cream (one 7-ounce jar)
  
• 1/2 cup shortening
  
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

1. Combine the salt and the how water in a small bowl and mix until the salt is dissolved. Let the mixture cool.
   
2. Combine the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.
   
3. Add the salt solution to the filling and beat to combine.