Both Hostess and Dolly Madison had those fruit pies. Dolly Madison had the Peanuts characters on the front; Hostess didn’t.
For me? From my recollection, I’ve always prefered Little Debbie to Hostess. I had no idea that Little Debbies were the “cheap” alternative to Hostess. I just never liked Twinkies, Ho-hos, and Hostess cupcakes. My favorite little Debbies were the Oatmeal creme cookies and their Swiss rolls.
Little Debbie looks like a creepy little brat who’s possessed by the devil.
Hostess Ho Ho’s are way ahead of the pale imitation Little Debbie puts out. At least, to my taste. Some people prefer Ghiradelli Flicks to Kisses or M&Ms, I guess it is a matter of what you grew up with.
You’re all heretics, as all know that the only One True Snack Cakes are Tastykakes, dammit…
Around Valentine’s Day, Little Debbie has heart shaped white cakes with pink frosting. I love those things. There are Christmas tree shaped ones in December. When I was a kid my favorite was Hostess Twinkies, but they don’t taste the same now. But their orange cupcakes are still really good. I have to call it a draw.
I bought a package of Twinkies after they were released from exile and was startled by how bad they are; I previously hadn’t had one in probably a decade.
Now Hostess Honey Buns - unless they have changed - are perfect.
Not a lot of experience with Little Debbie.
mmm
I loved those apple pies!
Speaking of regional, Tastykakes beat out Little Debbie and Hostess imo. I grew up on Tastykakes. I know they used to be only regional, I’m not sure if that’s still true or not. Hostess did used to have good pies, I haven’t had one in ages so I don’t know about the quality now.
You haven’t been shopping in the cheaper markets. Little Debbie are all over the place here.
Hostess is still the champ, even after the implosion and down-sizing of all their products.
It’s been quite a while, but I’ve only ever bought Little Debbie when I didn’t have money in my pocket to pay for Hostess (or Drake’s, which I tended to prefer to Hostess, though the difference was smaller).
Mrs. Baird’s is who i go to for for my fruit pie fix, or for a pair of cupcakes. If they’re not available, Hostess is OK for that kind of thing, and Little Debbie is solidly in third for this kind of snack.
But there are some things only Little Debbie seems to do, like:
I now recognize how waxy that chocolate is, but it’s still somehow a perfect mix. In the same way, the Star Crunch isn’t made of great ingredients, but it’s still a Star Crunch.
Hostess was the best in the past, but since the implosion and return, the products from the Bimbo bakery seem to have flavor and mouth feel removed in favor of equine end product.
Sushi-Q’s in particular are nothing like they were. Not only smaller, but far more sawdust than before. Perhaps an error was made translating the recipe to the new south of the boarder owners.
I like apple and cherry pies, but not Hostess apple or cherry pies. Hard to say why, really. The filling should be sweet, the crust should be flaky/buttery; they’d probably be better without that extra layer of sugar they put on the outside.
However, I used to quite like their blackberry pies. I’ve never seen them in the east since I moved, but on trips back home I used to always get one. I think they’ve changed the recipe. They’re just not what they once were, and that was even before the death and resurrection of Hostess.
And they didn’t have Dolly Madison anything out west. Used to see their commercials during Peanuts specials on TV when I was a kid and wanted to try them, but never could.
The Tokyo division took those over.
I’ve an unhealthy longing for Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Creme Pies. At least twice a year I chow down on one. Otherwise I can take or leave their stuff.
As for Hostess, every once in a great while, I MUST have their orange cupcakes. I understand they have red velvet cupcakes now too. I’ll give them a try if I ever run across one.
Neither of their fruit pies are what they used to be.
Growing up, I regularly would eat Hostess Cherry Pies for dessert at lunchtime at the high school (we got to choose stuff a la carte at walkup windows back then). Those were awesome. No real resemblance to a proper cherry pie, mind you, but that wasn’t the point. 
Tastycake Butterscotch Crimpets! Soooooo good.
Cotton candy-flavored Twinkies? Dear God. Bring on the giant civilization-crushing asteroid, humanity is done.
When I grew up there were Drake’s and Hostess snack pies. One had one large pie and one had two little pies. I liked the two pie one much better. I do not remember which one was which, though.
If forced to choose, I’d take “Paper Cut”.