For 75 years, the Twinkie has been a lunch box staple. But have
you taken it out
of the box and gone a bit further with the all-American dessert?
The search is on nationwide for Twinkies recipes to celebrate the snack cake’s
75th
anniversary, and the 75 most creative submissions will be featured in a special

commemorative cookbook.

“From fried Twinkie crepes to Twinkie-misu to the Twinkie Toffee Treat,
bakers,
homemakers and kids of all ages have been creating delectable deserts for
decades using America’s favorite snack cake,” said Mike Redd, vice
president of
cake marketing.

The Twinkie was created by Jimmy Dewar, a Hostess bakery manager in
Chicago, in 1930 as a way to make use of shortcake pans that sat idle except

during the six-week strawberry season. Originally the cakes were injected with

banana filling, but that was changed to vanilla following a banana shortage
during
World War II. A St. Louis billboard advertising “Twinkie Toe” shoes
inspired the
name for the snack cake, which were two for a nickel at the time.
Recipe submissions should include a list of all ingredients and step-by-step

instructions as well as the creator’s name, address and phone number.
Deadline
for submission is March 31. Creators of recipes selected for the collection
will be
notified soon after. Recipe submissions will become the sole property of
Interstate Bakeries Corp.

Submissions can be e-mailed to twinkies75 @twinkies.com or mailed to Twinkies’

75th Anniversary Recipe Search, 12 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111.
Betsy Stein