Howdy Doody peddled them on his 1950s TV show. Archie bunker got one in his lunchbox every day. Even President Jimmy Carter was a fan, supposedly ordering a Twinkie vending machine installed in the White House. Yes, Twinkies are an American favorite. And if the oblong little snack isn’t being eaten, it’s being talked about: usually by talk show hosts joking about the snack foods supposedly long shelf life.

The crème-filled cakes we know today are not exactly the same as the early Twinkies. When the snack cake was first conceived by Hostess plant manager James Dewar in 1930, it was as a way to use the cake pans for the strawberry “Little Short Cake Fingers,” which sat idle for all but the six-week strawberry season. The filling in those original cakes was flavored with bananas, and they were called “Twinkie Finger.” But when bananas got scarce during World War II the filling was changed to the vanilla flavor we know today, and the name was shortened to “Twinkies.”
The latest reformulation of the Twinkie came in 1990, when a low-fat version was first introduced. Now Twinkie lovers could have their cakes and eat ‘em too, with only half the fat of the original.

You should know that these clones are twice the size of the Hostess version, with the fat and calories double as well. By weight, however, this clone’s nutrition stats are right on track with the original.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size – 1 snack cake
Total servings – 12
Fat per serving – 3g
Calories per serving - 280