Homemade Twinkies

These are pretty delicious. Definitely not healthy in any sort of way. The first time I had these was while dating my husband. I like them best after they have sat out of the freezer for a min or two. These are great because you can make any variety you want, they freeze really well, and it is a pretty simple recipe. I always have to recruit my husbands help, when I am trying to put them together other then that, baking time is what takes the longest.

Homemade Twinkies
2 pkg cake mix (any kind) I used Devils food for this batch!
Mix as directed and bake in two 21X15 pan. Try to get the layers even, because these will be the top and bottom to your  Twinkies. Bake at 350* for 20 min. Invert onto cooling rack or pastry towel and let cool completely.

Note: For this cake I decided to try and use pumpkin in it. How that works is that you use 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree for every box of cake. For this recipe that was a 30oz can of pumpkin puree. It made the batter a lot thicker and a little harder to work with. You could slightly taste the pumpkin in the Twinkies, I thought it was delicious, though, I love pumpkin. It kept the cake super moist, a little too moist, it made it hard to put the top layer on, but once I tasted it, it was worth it. I would do it this way next time. It saves on the cost of eggs, and oil, and also calories, not that it matters when you are eating Twinkies!

Filling:
10 Tbl flour
2 c milk
2 c granulated sugar
1 Tbl vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 c shortening
1 c margarine or butter

Combine flour and milk in med saucepan. Cook of Med heat stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat.  Cool completely. It takes a couple of hours to cool if you just let it sit there after you remove from heat. Combine last five ingredients and beat until fluffy. Add cooled flour mixture and beat until fluffy again.

Put filling on bottom of 1 of cake, spread out try to do it evenly. Then carefully place the other cake bottom side down, onto filling. Refrigerate if possible for about an hour, if not cut up and refrigerate or freeze. Better if they freeze or refrigerate three hours before serving. I cut the cake into 4ths, and then freeze and then cut when ready to serve into 1 inch strips.