This Year, Recipes to Make You Thankful for Twinkies!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/MeS6DvyLScE[/youtube]**

*The "Twinkie" scene from Zombieland. Warning: Salty, post-apocalyptic language, NSFW or small ears. *

I am blessed with in-laws who insist on hosting Thanksgiving each year -- just one of the many things for which I'm thankful. With the responsibility for main course and sides in the competent hands of the Legion of Sisters-in-Law (LoSiL), the boys and I are free to make whatever appetizers or desserts strike our collective fancy. This year, inspired by the recent news of their possible demise, we'll be paying home-baked homage to our favorite iconic American snack cake: the Twinkie.

Now, initially, I was just going to go with a recipe that I found in the New York Times (based word-for-word on a recipe from Leite's Culinaria). This recipe even suggests that you make your own tin foil Twinkie molds -- which is a touch I loved in theory, though I have no doubt it will prove wildly problematic in actuality. After all, it ain't a holiday around here unless one of my children is asking, "Do you smell something burning?"

Just as I was familiarizing myself with this Leite's Culinaria recipe, *Gawker *put up a competing Twinkie recipe from a boisterous Aussie-chef named Nickos. Scanning through, it seemed like the recipes were very different: vanilla, corn syrup, and egg whites versus Marshmallow Fluff! Caster sugar versus confectioner's sugar! (What is caster sugar, anyway?) Cream of tartar!

After a little sleuthing, I realized that the recipes weren't all that different. Still, for the sake of science, we'll be making one batch of Twinkies from each of these recipe to see if the small differences produce any discernible difference in taste -- I, for one, have always suspected cream of tartarof being unnecessarily fussy...

FILLING ACCORDING TO Nickos:
3/4 cup caster sugar (which is table sugar that is whizzed superfine in your coffee grinder or food processor)
1 tablespoon corn syrup
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING ACCORDING TO Leite's Culinaria:
165 grams (1 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff (which according to Wikipedia, contains corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla flavor, and egg whites).
2 tablespoons heavy cream.

SPONGY-CAKE-Y GOODNESS ACCORDING TO Nickos:
1/2 cup SR flour (cake flour)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar

SAME SPONG-Y-CAKE-Y GOODNESS ACCORDING TO Leite's Culinaria:
Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil
60 grams ( 1/2 cup) cake flour
30 grams ( 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs at room temperature, separated
12 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Hopefully, I'll be able to update this post with some photos later on this week but I wanted to get the recipes up in case someone else was interested in making them. Happy Thanksgiving!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/zGKsWrpsKtI[/youtube]

Nickos' Twinkie-making video. I found the cream-filling portion particularly edifying.

PS: When GeekMom Amy found out that I was making Twinkies, she messaged me, saying, "You could also make the pink snowballs and give them heads to look like turkeys." Words that are echoing meaningfully in my skull now that I've discovered that Leite's Culinaria also has a Snowball recipe!