Food for Thought : The History of The Twinkie

      1933 - Twinkies were introduced by The Continental Baking Company in Indianapolis, which also made "Wonder Bread" and had a snack line your probably familiar with called Hostess. One of their bakers named James A. Dewar got the idea for the "Twinkie" while he delivered one of their products, a cream filled strawberry shortcake. The machines to make these sat idle when the strawberry season was over so he came up with an idea to use them to make a snack cake filled with a banana filling, and only charge a nickel for a package of 2. It was good idea as money was tight for people during the great depression.

     
     Dewar came up with this name when driving by a billboard that had an ad for shoes from the "Twinkle Toe Shoe Company". He shortened the name to ....Twinkies....

1940's
      Just like the song went "Yes We Have No Banana's " popular during the WWII because bananas were rationed, Hostess had to come up with a different filling.
     They switched to vanilla creme and it was popular so they never changed back.

1950
      The Twinkie rose to popularity in the '50's in great part due to Hostess sponsoring the Howdy Doody show, featuring the twinkie.
      During the 60's when there were huge fears of a nuclear attack, Many bomb shelters were built. Twinkees were one of the most popular items to have because it was said that they "stay fresh forever".
      It has become an American Icon, even president Clinton put one in a time capsule.

They remain as Hostess best selling snack cake producing half a billion a year!
                                     Golden Pound Cake Twinkles

Recipe by:  Mamie  Landrieu :
 "These are little cakes made from a golden pound cake recipe that is very simple and always turns out great. You can add chocolate chips or whatever you want to the batter."
Prep :45 minutes       Cook  :20 minutes     Ready In: 2 hours   

1          teaspoon vanilla extract 
3          cups all-purpose flour 
1          teaspoon baking powder 
1/4       teaspoon salt 
1          cup milk 
1/4       teaspoon salt 
2          teaspoons hot water 
1         (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme 
1/2      cup vegetable shortening 
1/3      cup confectioners' sugar 
1         teaspoon vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
1 .   Grease 2 12-cup ladyfinger cake pans or canoe pans.
2 .   Cream butter and white sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy; mix in eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a separate bowl; gradually mix flour mixture into butter mixture, a little at a time, alternating with milk to make a smooth batter. Spoon batter into prepared cake pans.
3 .   Bake in the preheated oven until the snack cakes are golden brown and set in the middle, about 20 minutes. Let snack cakes cool about 10 minutes before turning out to finish cooling on wire racks.
4 .    Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of salt in hot water in a small bowl and set aside. Mix marshmallow creme, vegetable shortening, confectioners' sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on high until filling is fluffy. Beat the salt solution into the filling. Pipe filling into cooled snack cakes.
Cook's Tips:
You can add 1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips to batter if you like. If you add chocolate chips, bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
For chocolate filling variation, melt down 2 squares of non-sweetened baker's chocolate and add to the cream filling. 

A proud grand-poppa                    G .