The Twinkie isn't exactly haute cuisine. But a new cookbook sets out to prove the cream-filled sponge cake is more versatile than most people think.
Twinkie-misu? Twinkie pancakes? You bet. "The Twinkies Cookbook" (Ten Speed Press, $12.95) even has a recipe for Twinkie lasagna.
Hostess put out a call for recipes that would showcase creative and unusual dishes as part of a Twinkie 75th anniversary celebration last year.
Interstate Bakeries Corp., which produces Twinkies under the Hostess brand, tested more than 100 recipes and included about half of them in the cookbook, said Theresa Cogswell, a vice president at Interstate Bakeries.
One of Cogswell's favorite recipes is Patriotic Twinkie Pie.
"I'm a person who likes things that serve two functions," Cogswell said of the red-white-and-blue berry creation. "You can use it as your centerpiece for a Fourth of July picnic, then have it for dessert."
Brenda McDevitt of Worth, Ill., created her recipe for Twinkie milkshakes after seeing her daughter, Sarah, dunk a Twinkie into a chocolate milkshake.
"I couldn't believe it when they called me," McDevitt told the (Tinley Park) Daily Southtown.