“Make your own Twinkies” and other secret recipes by the Food Cloner Dude.

Paul Michael — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:49:33 +0000

Todd Wilbur is a name you may well have heard before. For lack of a better word, he’s a copycat…and a cool one at that. From homemade Twinkies to homecooked Big Macs, Todd can recreate just about anything from your favorite American restaurant chain. Now you can learn how to make some of those famous meals and snacks and save a bundle.

Todd Wilbur works in his secret laboratory week after week, ordering food from the big restaurant chains and dissecting each one with painstaking accuracy. For Todd, it’s fun, it’s challenging and it’s a whole lot more enjoyable than his previous job as a TV reporter, which he quit in 1991 to go full time with his recipe cloning.

For Todd, the career grew out of a moment of disappointment. In the late 80’s, he received a “secret recipe” for Mrs. Fields’ Cookies…and after trying it out, he realized that it was a poor comparison to the original. Surely he could do better. This, from Todd’s website :

In Orange County, California in the late 80's Todd received a copy of the notorious Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe Chain Letter that had been making rounds across the nation. Trying the recipe led to disappointment. This was certainly no "secret formula." The results tasted nothing like a delicious Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie!

"Fake! Phony!" he cried. And then he wondered, "Just who are the goofballs passing this off as an authentic secret formula and how is it that such a bad knockoff recipe becomes so crazy popular?"

Todd had an idea. Since he had way too much free time on his hands, he got to work on a recipe for a cookie that had the flavor, texture and appearance of a real Mrs. Fields cookie. How hard could it be? Batch after batch the clones came closer to the real thing, until one day, it happened. The cookies came out chewy and delicious, with crispy edges and that strong vanilla aroma. Bingo! The first Top Secret Recipe was born.

Now, Todd Wilbur has a successful business and has published several books. He also has a constantly updated website full of his latest, greatest recreations. Now, enough of the history lesson…lets go to the man at work with 5 great recipe clones. And we start with one of America’s favorite sweet treats…the Twinkie.

Cloned Twinkie

Copy Cat Big Mac

Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica

Chili’s Molten Chocolate Cake

Planet Hollywood Chicken Crunch

If you'd like to become a serious recipe cloner, Todd has two great books available. Both are available from trusted seller Amazon and for the price of around $10 you can learn how to make hundreds of famous recipes in your very own kitchen. Now, eating out could still be something you do at home...but you will have to do your own dishes I'm afraid.

Top Secret Restaurant Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains

Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: