The evolution of the Twinkie has been fascinating. Did you know that the original Twinkie introduced in 1930 was bananas? I mean that quite literally; the cream filling was made with real bananas and real cream. You can read more about Twinkie history in , but here’s how I’m tracking all the significant events in Twinkie evolution:
This was my Saturday night.
Though they had been a staple at state fairs for years, Hostess officially sent all our diets to shit when they released Hostess Deep Fried Twinkies in the freezer aisle in summer 2016. The initial launch included a regular and a chocolate version, and I found them both to be really damn good.
The Deep Fried Twinkie was the culmination of years of ups, downs, and everything in between for the versatile and resilient Twinkie. In many ways, it was the Twinkie’s apex.
So what do you do when you’ve already outdone yourself? You get weird again:
Hostess Deep Fried Banana Twinkies
Hostess Deep Fried BANANA Twinkies! It’s as if Hostess has come full circle, combining its very first creation with its modern-day monstrosity that is the Deep Fried Twinkie.
Hostess Deep Fried Banana Twinkies offer another new wrinkle to the formula: a graham cracker coating. The exact description is “graham cracker breaded sponge cake with artificially flavored banana creme filling.” Six to eight minutes in the oven is all it takes to prepare, or you can deep fry them once more if you want to attempt suicide.
This is your life now.
Seven minutes and 350 degrees later, the Deep Fried Banana Twinkie was adequately heated. The creme started to liquify but had not yet become a total mess. This is the ideal state you want to consume your Deep Fried Twinkies. If you overheat them, the cream melts away completely and you’re left with a fattening tube of lies.
The banana filling is impressively banana. While the package is quick to point out “artificially flavored banana,” it’s also made with real banana puree. Mashed bananas is exactly what this cream tastes like. But in addition to the natural sweetness of the fruit, there’s an extra sharp sweetness coming from table sugar and chemicals.
The graham cracker coating to the Hostess Deep Fried Banana Twinkie is what holds it back most. It tastes nothing like graham crackers. It reminded me more of a fried mozzarella stick coating, completely unseasoned. The outside needs cinnamon or sugar or SOMETHING to keep it interesting. It’s not sweet or flavorful; it just tastes like grease and “fried.”
As for the sponge cake? You don’t taste that either. The only two flavors here are banana and grease.
I love that we live in a world where endless Twinkie varieties equals endless Deep Fried Twinkie potential – I do! But Hostess Deep Fried Banana Twinkies are a regression from the Twinkie Apex achieved with the first two varieties. The filling is delicious but not delicious enough to overcome some real graham cracker shortcomings.
And yet I’m still excited to see where the Twinkie goes next. As long as it’s not Deep Fried .
Making Twinkie PowerPoint Slides On a Saturday Night Rating: 2 out of 10
Key Lime Slime Twinkies Rating: Ugh out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 out of 10
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