Caramel Apple Hostess cupcakes?!? Why was I not informed??

Cafe Society
1

In my mis-spent youth back in the 60’s, I had a thing for Hostess Cupcakes. Not the devil’s food ones, but rather the orange ones. They were the snack of choice for my brown bag lunches! I can’t say I got them a lot, but I did get them regularly over the years.

However, I drifted away from such indulgences many decades ago. Once every 6 or 7 years, while stopping at a remote gas station on a road trip I’d see said orange cupcakes, and buy a two pack for a sentimental rush. Sadly, they never were as good as my memory of them. I largely ignored the other flavors of cupcake or other hostess products (save for their apple pies, so sweet they made my teeth ache, so I only indulged in those rarely, too.)

But just this last week, while violating my diet (and good sense) by shopping for lunch in a remote refueling station, I spied this fancy cupcake. And just had to try it.

And damn, it was good!

And now, looking around, I see there are a TON of varieties of hostess cupcakes! Not just caramel apple and my trusty old orange, but also these (seasonal flavors)!

Sea Salt Caramel CupCakes (caramel iced yellow cake with sea salt topping & caramel filling)
Golden CupCakes (yellow cake with chocolate icing)
Baseball CupCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing)
Baseball CupCakes (chocolate cake with vanilla icing)
Star Spangled CupCakes (yellow cake with blue-colored icing)
Candy Corn CupCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing & sprinkles)
Pumpkin Spice CupCakes (pumpkin spice cake with filling)
Dark Chocolate Raspberry CupCakes (dark chocolate cake with chocolate icing and raspberry filling)
Strawberry CupCakes (strawberry cake with strawberry icing)
Chocolate Covered Strawberry CupCakes (strawberry cake with chocolate icing)
I Love You Cakes (chocolate cake with chocolate icing) - shaped like a heart
ScaryCakes (chocolate cake with orange colored icing) - available during the Halloween time period
HolidayCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing & sprinkles)
Shamrock CupCakes (chocolate cake with mint filling)
Spring CupCakes (yellow cake with pink-colored, vanilla icing)
Red Velvet CupCakes

Lordy, what have I been missing? And is this a hobby I really want to explore? Oh, I do not think so, yet . . .

Dopers, any of those listed flavors represent a ‘must try’?

2

It doesn’t matter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can beat Walmart’s Salted Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches.
I could probably eat 1/2 - a whole box of them. Amazing.

3

I dunno, I recently discovered white chocolate and butterscotch cookies, and they’re pretty damn good.

4

I hate to break it to you, but the “Hostess” you knew in your childhood no longer exists. Interstate Bakeries (the real Hostess) liquidated in 2012 and the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names were bought by another company.

Among other changes, new Hostess snacks contain actual eggs, which has to be some sort of violation of the junk food code!

5

I hate to break it to you, but everything’s changed since the 60’s with corporate takeovers and optimization and HFCS! The old Hostess long ago abandoned the recipes of my childhood, even before they went belly up, and their brand name buying successor probably took the chance to use genetic modification and monoclonal tech to bring about their Caramel Apple product. That’s a fact of life, hardly a tragedy that needs to be broken to someone. I wasn’t jonesing for the taste of my childhood, I was relishing a new taste bud treat.

6

I’d give the dark chocolate raspberry ones a try if I see them around. Looks like they came out a bit before Valentine’s Day this year. Here’s a review.

7

I do NOT need this temptation. I’m weak. Weak!!

8

Those limited-edition Oreos are my Waterloo. I can’t even go into the aisle they’re in at the grocery store.

9

Peep Oreos are great. The crappy thing is they put less Oreos on the package and charge the same amount. I really think that is a lame way to handle things.

10

We like the Firework Oreos that get put on shelves for June to the first week of July.

11

I have noticed that since they pulled a Frankenstein on Hostess, the new recipe has way too much sawdust in it. If I’m going to have the forbidden carbs, they should taste like food, not oak!

12

I was sitting here, minding my own business and feeling smugly superior to everyone in this thread. “Hostess cupcakes?” I think to myself. “Bah! I am not tempted by such things! Give me real homemade desserts, made lovingly by hand by accomplished chefs and grandmothers. None of this machine-made crap!”

And then this comes along:

O
M
G

Have you guys tried the Pistachio Oreo Thins? I don’t care how much they cost or how few are in the package. They Are Crack. I can’t buy them anymore. I can’t even walk down the cookie aisle anymore lest they find their way into my cart. Best Cookie Ever.

13

This is an excellent rule for buying the junkiest of junk food. So…here’s what I want to know: if I feel moved to try some of the items named in this thread, how far away from my neighborhood gas station do I have to go to invoke the rule of “I’m On the Road So This Doesn’t Count”? Do I actually have to have an overnight bag in the car, 'cause I can arrange that?

The Corner Stores (used to be Valero) gas station/convenience stores here are like the Disneyland of junk food. And there definitely is the sense of being suspended in a non-judgmental, anything-goes kind of setting there.

Also, do Little Debbies have any place in this discussion?

14

You open a snackpastryological can of worms with these questions, you know.

And don’t get me started on Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Creme pies, either, 'mkay?

15

In my world, it’s perfectly OK to buy Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Combos as long as they are road food only. The makers of Combos clearly expect their product to be road food, judging by the graphic on their home page. They must go from gas station to car and no farther to qualify.

I think oatmeal crème (<== ooh, check out the fancy autocorrect!) pies might qualify under the same rule. They are round and stuffed with goodness.

16

I like the Hostess Orange cupcakes too. They are much better than the chocolate. Sno Balls used to be my favorite. Lately they just aren’t as good. Maybe my tastes are changing.

I bought my first Oreo thins last week. I got the vanilla thins. Very crunchy and less calories for each one.

I hope they continue making them.

17

And you removed the whole snowball icing cloak all at once, right? Like sensible people everywhere.

The Oreo thins are great. I keep them in the freezer (as I do all minty cookies/candies), IF and WHEN I buy them, which is not often, because I will blow through the bag like a herd of mint-crazed wildebeests. I seriously cannot keep junk food in the house. I mean that in both senses, i.e., I cannot allow myself to buy the stuff, and if I do, it will not last long.

Oreo vanilla thins, you say?? <ThelmaLou ponders this intelligence>

Ha! You never should have said that! As soon as the Universe picked up on your sweet little hope, Nabisco shut down that particular factory, sent everyone home, and burned the place to the ground. At least that’s what always happens to me.

18

Absolutely. The Sno Ball icing is the best part.

Oreo is spreading the brand with so many varieties. I haven’t tried the newer flavors. Too little time and too many calories. :wink:

19

Criminy, that snack looks amazing.

OMG, I am doomed…

20

As a kid in the 70s, I was enamored with Suzy Qs. Cuz I loved chocolate cake (still do); plus they were big, and therefore excellent value for my kid dollars.

Well, guess what folks - after an abandoned 2016 reboot (which failed cuz the makers went cheap and scrimped on the creamy centers), the old-style Suzy Qs are back and something close to the form I knew and loved as a kid.

Solid reviews from the aficionados! Must try them on my next road trip…