Twinkies Return With Nearly Twice the Shelf Life

Written by Sharon McLoone

The spongy yellow American icons are back!

Hostess Twinkies return to the shelves next week.

Are you ready?

The new version of the cakes will have a shelf life of 45 days.

The original magic recipe kept the confectionery wonders fresh for 26 days.

A Hostess spokeswoman would not say what recipe changes have extended their shelf life, according to the Associated Press.

The company also will start freezing some of its cakes to extend their shelf life even further, which will allow retailers to stamp their own expiration dates on the cake packages.

Hostess shut down its manufacturing business in November 2012. Twinkies and other Hostess cakes were purchased by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Brewing Co.

Twinkies return on Monday. Are you excited? Disappointed? Indifferent? Let us know in the comments below.