Mixology at Home – Twinkie Cocktail

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - If you wonder why we have the Twinkie, just look at the data.

A survey on the Statista website claims that nearly 29 million Americans have eaten at least one Twinkie, sometimes up to eight, in a 30-day period. In a year we supposedly spend $47 million on this “junk food.”

When we discovered that Thursday, April 6 was National Twinkie Day, we just had to have fun with it. I hate making specialty drinks, but I am impressed by the Twinkie. So this drink is in celebration of that sweet, spongy, cream-filled treat.

You can thank a strawberry shortage for today’s Twinkie. In 1930, a baker ran out of filling for his strawberry shortcakes, so he substituted it with banana cream and people loved it. The name? He saw a billboard for Twinkle Toes shoes. Not sure why that inspired him to call the snack Twinkie.

We almost lost this snack in 2012 when the company that made Twinkies, Hostess, went bankrupt. But Twinkies made a comeback a year later.

While the Twinkie is an iconic snack, we aren’t sure about the cocktail. At first, I thought to infuse vodka with the Twinkie but opted to avoid that mess. So, here it is and if you don’t like it, I claim the “Twinkie defense.”

Ingredients

• 2 oz whipped vodka
• 1 oz vanilla vodka (or cake vodka)
• 1 oz Frangelico
• Yellow food coloring (optional, to mimic the color of the Twinkie cake)
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• Heavy cream

Directions: Put vodkas and Frangelico and yellow food coloring in a shaker with ice; shake to mix and chill. Strain into a martini glass. In a mug, slightly whip the cream with vanilla extract but don’t make it too stiff. Over a spoon, layer the cream on top of the drink. You could use whipped cream in a can, but the drink does taste better if the cream is layered.

Side note:

There is an urban myth about the shelf life of a Twinkie. It is not indefinite. Today’s Twinkie is best when consumed within 45 days, according to the company. However, there reportedly is a Twinkie that’s been around for more than four decades and is still fresh. Who knows if that is true?

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