Cravings

I have a craving. It's driving me nuts. And it's all because of yesterday's line-up on Food Network. They showed.....the making of Twinkies.

I was a Twinkie eater from way back. There was nothing like biting the end off of that spongy cake, sticking my finger in the middle to get out all that god-knows-what's-in-it-but-damn-it's-good-filling, sucking said finger clean, and then eating the rest of the cake.

But now I can't eat those Hostess goodies.

So what's a gluten-free person to do? FIND A WAY. I searched the internet. I flipped through GF cookbooks. And now I have a way.

Twinkie Cupcakes

For the cake (slightly adapted from "The Gluten-Free Kitchen" by Roben Ryberg):

5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup potato starch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until the yolks are light in color and thickened. Add the vanilla and water. Mix well. Add the cornstarch, potato starch, xanthan gum, salt, and baking powder; combine well to make sure there are no lumps.

Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until they hold stiff peaks. Pour half of the egg whites into the yolk mixture; fold gently until incorporated. The pour that mixture back into the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently until completely combined.

Put cupcake liners in your muffin pan. Fill each liner 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool completely before filling.

(Makes 24 cupcakes or "twinkies")

For the filling (from Top Secret Recipes):

2 tsp very hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1 - 7 oz jar marshmallow creme
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the salt with the water in a small bowl and stir until the salt is dissolved. Let cool.

Combine the marshmallow creme, shortening, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and mix well, until the stuff is fluffy.

Add the salt solution to the creme mixture and combine.

Once the cupcakes are cool, remove the liners and place on their tops. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a long tube tip with the filling. Insert the tip halfway into the cupcakes through the bottom; squeeze the filling into the cupcakes. (This stuff is thick and it broke my cheap-ass pastry bag tip connector thingy - just warning you - so I didn't get to fill mine as full as I wanted).

Make a pig of yourself (I have already eaten 4 and they've been done for a whole 5 minutes!).

While the cake doesn't taste like the real Twinkie does, I don't care. It gives me the feeling of eating a Twinkie and I am happy. And I am probably going to be sick because I bet I eat all 24 before this day is done.

This isn't the only craving happening in the cat house. Stay tuned...