Homemade Junkfood Journeys: TWINKIE!

Believe me my life doesn't revolve around making your life harder. I think of making homemade junk food as fun. I rather be able to rely on high school home economics than need a doctorate in chemistry to name the ingredients in my food. I have gone out to eat with my husband and mother in law a few time and have been sorely disappointed. Even a okay place like the Olive Garden has frozen dough for their bread sticks....as does Pizza Hut and Subway (yeah that's thinking fresh alright). When I was in college I worked in Taco Bell. Not only is all the stuff carted in on a truck (no prep at all....the sour cream and guacamole are in a caulk gun sort of thing) they throw away everything if it is not used that day! There isn't any respect for the ingredients. Likewise we think nothing of popping a box of Twinkies into our shopping cart. We don't think of what is in it or how it is made. Respect has to be given but it also has to be earned. Another point in time I made computers for a living in a factory in the area where we live before I worked for the corporate world. I saw the utter disrespect the workers had for the items they were putting into the computers. You think when you buy a computer that it would be made with the strictest of care...clean rooms and what not. Certainly you wouldn't think quality control would be picking cigarette butts and candy wrappers out of the chassis. Yeah. We can eat junk food but it doesn't have to be junk.

Now there are two ways of doing this...with a Twinkie pan or without one. Let me give you the first one then I will show you where to get a twinkie pan. You can use tin foil. Twinkies are sponge cake not pound cake like a lot of replicas out there. If you make the tin foil Twinkie pans tall enough you will be able to put them upside down as sponge cake requires. Or buy the pans here lol. There are a couple of ways to fill the Twinkie. The bottom three hole method or the one hold side method. I say keep it simple stupid (that is what my algebra teacher used to say)...just kidding. This is a homemade Twinkie it doesn't have to look like Martha Stewart made it AND believe me it looks a lot worse when you chew it up. You are however going to need a cake decorating bag with tip....or a empty mustard bottle or such. Experiment!

Here is a good basic sponge cake recipe....the filling will follow.

Twinkie Shell

INGREDIENTS
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup egg yolks
1 egg

2 tsps of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift together twice: flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour back into sifter.
In a large mixing bowl beat egg yolks and whole eggs with an electric mixer until thick and lemon colored (about 5 minutes). Gradually add sugar, beating after each addition. This should take about 10 minutes.
Fold in extract. Sift dry ingredients into egg and sugar mixture and fold in. Do not stir or beat. Add boiling water and fold in quickly, just until liquid is blended. Pour batter into one ungreased pans.
Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Turn cake over in pan on a wire rack and let cake hang for 1 hour or until cool. Loosen cake sides from pan with a spatula and shake from pan.

Twinkie Filling

1 c. milk

6 tbsp. flour

1 c. vegetable shortening

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp salt

Cook milk and flour until thick; cool. Beat all together until mixture is fluffy and soft. Add sugar a little at a time (8 to 10 minutes). Can be kept in refrigerator.