The Decadent Hostess Dessert From The '80s We'll Probably Never Taste Again

Hostess is synonymous with Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and those classic Cupcakes with that signature white icing squiggle on top, but there's one discontinued Hostess snack from the 1980s that we'd really like back. These particular pastries had an iced fried crust with a specific filling you won't find today: pudding. Yep, Hostess used to have a Pudding Pie, which was a hand pie filled with custardy goodness.

They were released in 1986 and came in flavors like chocolate and vanilla. Unfortunately, Pudding Pies weren't around for long and left shelves about a year later. They were revived for a short period of time when Hostess ran a promotional version in 1991, in partnership with the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Those pies featured a wild green exterior with a sweet vanilla pudding, and after that, they were history again. Hostess still makes snack pies to this very day, but they're all fruit-filled.

Users on Reddit have reminisced about Pudding Pies, posting entire threads dedicated to the memory of one of the best Hostess snacks. In one thread, a commenter said, "My dad and I used to get the pudding pies as a little treat and we loved them so much." Another person was particularly fond of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-release, saying, "The TMNT (green vanilla) ones were my favorite. Chocolate and vanilla were awesome too" (via Reddit). Another user had a slightly different memory, at least about the chocolate variety, recalling, "The chocolate tasted very artificial at the end. The vanilla was also the TMNT filling which was top tier." 

Unfortunately, the once-popular '80s snack probably won't come back unless Hostess decides to go the nostalgia route and revive an old product, which isn't entirely unfeasible. But you don't have to suffer from the fear of missing out, because similar products still exist, like individually sold chocolate pudding pies from brands like JJ's Bakery. You can find those in the wild, but they just won't have that same warm childhood feeling that Hostess always manages to bring up.