Hostess Banana Twinkies

I am a banana dessert lover ... if it has banana in it (flavoring or actual banana) I am compelled to try it. Case in point: Hostess Banana Twinkies. I have seen these from time to time and one day on a quick trip through Wal-Mart I decided to pick up a box to give a whirl.

Coinciding with the whole minion craze, the Twinkies are individually wrapped (which is better for portion control) and have little minions on each of the wrapper. Based on sight alone, these look exactly like your average Twinkie and no one would know they were banana if you didn't tell them (the package isn't labeled as such).

Taste wise, it's your classic sponge cake, whereas instead of the regular vanilla cream in your average Twinkie, the cream in these are banana flavored. It's artificial but it's not a grotesque banana flavor. It's smooth, mild and actually quite enjoyable. Truthfully, I'm not the biggest fan of Twinkies ... but I quite enjoyed these, as did everyone that also gave them a try (my boyfriend, my mother, my niece and nephew - who exceptionally loved them). Overall they were quite the win in my opinion.

A serving, 2 cakes, is 270 calories or 7 points plus values or you can have 1 cake for 4 points plus values.

Hostess Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cup Cakes

I wasn't aware that Hostess came out with a line of limited edition cakes for the fall season until a noon-time browsing session through Target had me stumble upon the Hostess Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cup Cakes. Before I even looked at the nutrition label, I popped the box in my cart and off I went.

Hostess has always been a manufacturer of snack cakes I've enjoyed in my childhood (and adulthood). But with this launch, all I can say is these cupcakes spoke to the pumpkin lover in me. Opening the box I noticed a clear difference between these and your classic Hostess cupcakes. These particular cupcakes are packaged in the plastic wrapping, but there is no cardboard piece beneath the cupcakes as there are with other varieties. I also noticed that the cupcakes are darker than the original which would make sense considering it's pumpkin spice. But one of the clear giveaways was that each of the cupcakes seem to be baked unevenly. Almost like they were scooped into baking containers at an angle and popped into an oven to be quick-cooked and baked off at an angle.

Cupcake angle aside, these are pretty good. The cupcakes are a smooth pumpkin spice flavor, which was smooth and flavorful. They're lightly frosted with a cream cheese-like flavored frosting, which along with the cream filling give the cupcake a decent amount of sweetness. The frosting is then decorated with fall sprinkles. Overall, they're pretty good and were a nice snack to have on hand when in the mood for something sweet but in a portion controlled option.

If you're interested, there is also a limited edition Candy Corn variety available for the holiday season.

A serving, 1 cake, is 160 calories or 4 points plus values.

Hostess Red Velvet Cupcakes

Growing up we had a local Hostess factory that sold Hostess products at a discounted price. My mother would pick up snacks for my brother and I ... so I guess you can say my enjoyment of Hostess goodies was born early. There are some snacks by the brand that I'm not a fan of .. but others I am. Case in point when I spotted the Hostess Red Velvet Cupcakes at Wal-Mart I had to pick up a box.

 

It seems like red velvet flavored snacks are taking over grocery store shelves. What I liked about these cupcakes was that they were so fresh. The texture of the cupcake was soft, slightly moist and nicely sweetened. I found them to not be as sweet as say, the Hostess orange frosted cupcake (which for one reason really hits me as sa-weeeet!). The cake is your classic red velvet - a bold chocolate flavor with has a light and airy cream in the middle of the cupcake. The frosting on top is a classic vanilla, but not overly vanilla-y.

 

They're definitely along the lines of the classic chocolate frosted cupcake (just colored red) but I feel this variety is not as sweet. Which may be in part to the vanilla frosting? But either way, they're pretty good.

A cupcake is 170 calories or 4 points plus values.