Twinkie Panic? Hostess' Discontinued Snack Prompts Customers Nationwide to Line Up and Buy Last Remaining, Others Resort to Homemade Recipes

The Friday announcement that baked goods giant Hostess Brands will be closing their doors for good has caused customers around the country to race for the shelves of convenience stores and supermarkets to grab the last remaining Twinkies, HoHos and Sno-Balls.

In Chicago, Ill., the birthplace of Twinkies, stores have been experiencing runs on Twinkies and other assorted Hostess goods since Friday, when Hostess Brands announced they were seeking to liquidate their assets and shut down operations after failing to reach an agreement with union workers.

At the Walgreens near the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Twinkies were gone before 9 a.m. Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Salina Gonzalez, mother of three children, Alex, 6, Noah, 9, and Nicolas, 11, was one of a few lucky customers that were able to grab one of the few remaining boxes of Twinkies at the Target at 1940 W. 33rd St. Friday afternoon.

"I'm picking these up for my grandmother. She had me come get some Twinkies for her," Gonzalez said. "I thought they'd be gone by the time I got here," Gonzalez told the Tribune.

A spokesman for Jewel retail store parent Supervalu told Bloomberg news that its stores, which include Jewel-Osco, were experiencing surges in sales on Hostess products, particularly Twinkies, and that they do not have additional inventory on hand.

"We will only have the products while supplies last," Mike Siemienas, a spokesman for the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based grocery chain said.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Irma Holleman was also having a hard time finding any Hostess goods at the Hostess Bakery Thriftshop on Friday, DeseretNews.com reported.

Back on the East Coast in New York, West Seneca resident Dave Driscoll told Buffalo News that he, like others in western New York, bolted straight to the nearest store in Cheektowaga to load up on Twinkies and other favorites after he heard that Hostess was shutting down.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do now; we buy our bread and snacks for school lunches here," he said. "My son only eats chocolate chip mini muffins, so we're buying a lot of those today."

Roughly 38 people at the company's distribution facility in Amherst, N.Y. are also being let go, as Hostess wil lay off most of its 18,500-member employees.

Customers in the western part of the Empire State greeted the news of Hostess's shutdown with anger and sadness.

"I think it's a shame," Michael Muroff, a 64-year-old Buffalo retiree, told Buffalo News. "I'm on a fixed income, so I'm going to miss this store and the savings. I have six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and I come here to buy treats for them when they visit me."

"It's a terrible loss," he added, noting that he had eaten Hostess breads and snacks since he was a child.

But don't despair, Twinkie lovers-recipes to create your very own, homemade Twinkies can be found right here, courtesy of About.com:

Homemade Twinkies Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Supplies:

1 round spice bottle, the size of a Twinkie

12 (12 x 14-inches each) pieces non-stick aluminum foil

Pastry bag

Toothpick

Vegetable oil spray

Cake:

16-ounce box golden pound cake mix

4 egg whites, beaten until stiff

2/3 cup water

Filling:

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

2 teaspoons butter, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 drops lemon extract

Preparation:

Faux twinkie cakes: Fold each piece of foil in half with the nonstick side out. Then fold in half again. Roll foil pieces around the spice bottle to form a tube. Fold down edges to seal, leaving one end of the tube open to be filled with the batter. Remove the spice bottle. Spray the insides with vegetable oil and set each tube open-end-up in a muffin tray.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Beat cake mix, whipped egg whites, and water on medium speed until completely blended, about 2 minutes. Carefully fill the foil tubes, leaving 3/4-inch headspace. Bake about 30 minutes until golden and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cakes cool, then remove foil. Use a toothpick to make 3 holes along the length of each cake. Wiggle the toothpick around the center to make room for the filling, taking care not to poke through to the other side.

Filling: Cream shortening and butter together in a medium bowl. With mixer running on medium speed, add powdered sugar and granulated sugar, a little at a time, until smooth. Add evaporated milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. Continue mixing until fluffy.

Spoon filling into a pastry bag with a No. 5 tip. Inject filling into each of the 3 holes in each faux Twinkie cake and place hole-side-down on a serving platter or store in a covered container.