Twinkies Are Back: Hostess Snack Cakes Hit Shelves Monday

Hostess had shut down its factories in November amid its bankruptcy

The Twinkie is back.

The iconic tubular snack cake hit the shelves Monday, to the delight of sugar-toothed addicts who have been suffering Twinkie withdrawal since Hostess went bankrupt last year.

Today's Twinkies aren't exactly as fans may have remembered them, though.

Some fans have griped that the Twinkie 2.0 appears to be smaller than its predecessor, CNN Money noted — a claim Hostess denied, saying the treats are exactly the same size as they were before production stopped in November.

For much of last year, though, a box of 10 of the individually wrapped treats weighed 15 ounces, or 1.42 ounces more than a box does now.

On the brighter side, a Twinkie has a longer shelf life of 45 days, compared to its previous 26 days — not that any true Twinkie lover would let them sit on the shelf that long anyway.

And Hostess' executives told the Los Angeles Times recently that fans can expect new variations on the beloved treats in the future, including bite-sized and gluten-free versions.

The soft treat's soft opening came over the weekend, though, with Wal-Mart selling the cakes at about 1,600 stores starting Friday, ahead of the nationwide debut.

Hostess shuttered its factories this past November, after years of management turmoil and a failure to reach a contract agreement with its second biggest union.

Its brands were sold off in chunks to different buyers; Twinkies and other Hostess cakes were purchased by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co., which also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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