Tag: Cheez-It

What are Cheez-It Puff’d?

A new variety of baked snacks from Cheez-It, these tout themselves as “cheesy, airy, & puffy” and come in three flavors: Double Cheese, White Cheddar, and Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar. They strongly resemble a Cheez-It product from a few years ago, Cheez-It Crunch’d, but because I never sampled those, I can’t confirm if Puff’d is a retooling of Crunch’d or something entirely new. These are Cheez-It’s version of a cheese puff.

How are they?

At first glance, promising. They come in bags that assure you they’re “crave-ably cheesy,” “incredibly airy,” and “perfectly puffy.” The shapes look like they’d be fun to eat and the smallish size makes them seem like a snack you could toss up and catch in your mouth like popcorn. Occasionally two of them remain stuck together in a neat little domino shape. They look like the sort of thing you’d have in a bowl and happily munch on, eating way too many because they’re so light and airy. Unfortunately, the fun stops there because these are not good.

They remind me of several types of things you would use to fill a box for shipping so the contents don’t break in transit. My first thought was that these are like eating old packing peanuts. Not even fresh packing peanuts but more like what I imagine the packing peanuts that surround the Christmas ornaments I inherited from my grandmother decades ago probably taste like. Next, I thought about another box filler, those not-totally inflated little plastic bags of air that all come connected to each other. Remember what I thought was a cute domino shape? It’s actually just two of those stuck-together bags. While eating, I thought to myself, “these are why some people really hate cheese puffs.” There’s something strange about them right from the start. It’s almost as if they’re stale, even though I know that’s not possible. Any puffiness they have immediately melts away the second they’re in your mouth and what’s left is pretty off-putting and oddly sticky.

Anything else you need to know?

They say they’re baked with real cheese inside and out, and I don’t have any complaints about the flavors. Double Cheese has the most regular taste of the trio and is the least remarkable. I’m unclear if there are supposed to be two different cheeses (presumably cheddar and something else?) or if it’s just supposed to be twice the amount of the regular cheese flavor. At any rate, it doesn’t stand out as being particularly strong. The White Cheddar version is sharper and more distinctive. Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar isn’t too fiery to handle but has a pleasant heat.

Conclusion:

I like cheese puffs and want to like these, but I can’t get past the texture. If you give them a try, I’d recommend White Cheddar or Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar. A single serving is 40 pieces, and this is a rare case in snacking where I won’t come close to eating that many.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 5.75 oz bag
Purchased at: Mariano’s
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Double Cheese), 5 out of 10 (White Cheddar), 5 out of 10 (Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar)
Nutrition Facts: For all three flavors (40 pieces) 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 2 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 270 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of total sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

“Scorchin’ Hot” sounds like a store brand attempt at a flavor that’s supposed to taste and burn like Frito-Lay’s Flamin’ Hot. Oh wait, it turns out Walmart used it. I guess it’s going to be super awkward when Walmart comes out with a Great Value version of Cheez-It’s new Grooves Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar Crackers that uses the same flavor name.

For those of you who don’t follow crunch snack crackers, Grooves are an offshoot of the Cheez-It line that debuted several years ago. The cheesy flavors that I’ve tried have been decent to good. Although I haven’t tried the Hot & Spicy variety, so I don’t know how “extra hot” these are. When it comes to the crunch, Grooves are somewhere between regular Cheez-It crackers and Wheat Thins.

This Scorchin’ Hot Cheddar flavor is as light on the cheesiness as any Flamin’ Hot product. It’s not the first thing your mouth will notice when you start eating it. That honor goes to the heat. It’s not Flamin’ Hot-spicy, but it’s more like two or three levels below that.

With products that have the spicy Frito-Lay seasoning, there’s a point where I have to stop because my mouth gets a bit too hot. But with these Cheez-It Grooves, I ate them at a scorching pace without the need for something to soothe my mouth. Of course, your eating speed may vary based on your mouth’s heat tolerance.

But it’s not only hot spices and cheese that I taste. There’s also hints of garlic and onion powder, which are also in Flamin’ Hot seasoning but are much more noticeable with these crackers. While these aren’t as spicy as Flamin’ Hot, they have a more well-rounded flavor. Although I’ve made fun of its name, I do enjoy these crackers.

As much as I like this Cheez-It Grooves flavor, I do find the underlying cracker’s paleness to be a bit odd. They are made with rice flour, so I understand why they might be that way, but I don’t remember any other Grooves flavors being so pale. It also doesn’t help that the crackers aren’t entirely coated with seasoning and that its dark red color makes the paleness stands out even more.

Purchased Price: $2.89
Size: 9 oz.
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (18 crackers) 130 calories, 6 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 3 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 1 gram of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 270 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

It’s officially football season (a.k.a. Americana foods season) and Cheez-It is getting into the spirit with its Flavor Playoffs. It’s a face-off between cheeseburger, cheese pizza, and cheddar nachos-flavored Cheez-It crackers and snack enthusiasts like you and me can choose the winning flavor.

Around the same time, the brand released a Walmart-exclusive Buffalo Wing flavor that features the same packaging but isn’t part of the promotion. Weird. But, that’s okay. It wouldn’t have been able to hold its own against the other classic tailgate flavors anyway.

The crackers looked like the typical orange squares in a box of regular Cheez-It, but with some extra dusting. It would have been a nice visual touch to see the crackers bright red-orange to mimic a beautiful fried chicken wing doused in red-hot Buffalo sauce. I could also see the light dusting was inconsistent across the crackers, so I knew some were going to be more flavorful than others. I was even more surprised that for a flavor as pungent as Buffalo, these didn’t smell too different.

Not surprisingly, the lackluster appearance and smell translated into a lackluster taste. I wanted it to be as flavorful as Cheez-It’s Sriracha Snack Mix, but it was nowhere close. Any initial Buffalo taste was quickly drowned out by a mild bleu cheese taste and then the sharp cheddar flavor that typically accompanies the regular flavor. The crackers that were extra toasted and extra seasoned were closer to that bold Buffalo flavor, but still not quite. This is the only time I will EVER say that the 100 percent real cheesy goodness did not work in its favor.

When it comes to Buffalo wing-flavored snacks, the gold standard is the Pretzel Pieces version from Snyder’s of Hanover. So, I pitted the two against each other. The Snyder’s one was hands down better and continues to be reigning champion. It not only packed a flavor punch, but it also didn’t have any seasoning inconsistency as it didn’t look like they used powder only. But, I will say that the pretzel pieces didn’t capture the bleu cheese flavor as well as Cheez-It.

For good measure, I also tried Rold Gold’s Buffalo Wing Thin Crisps Pretzels and I’m happy to share that Cheez-It won that round. You could taste the Rold Gold’s Frito-Lay backing as it reminded me of Cool Ranch Doritos more so than Buffalo.

At the end of the day, Cheez-It crackers are damn delicious no matter what seasoning you sprinkle on it. So in that vein, this isn’t the bottom of the barrel when it comes to Buffalo-flavored snacks, but it isn’t best-in-class either.

(Nutrition Facts – 25 pieces – 150 calories, 70 calories from fat, 8 grams of total fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 0 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $2.88
Size: 12.4 oz. box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: It’s a Cheez-It. More complex flavor journey than other Buffalo flavored products: Buffalo then bleu cheese then sharp cheddar. Beats the flavor of Rold Gold’s Buffalo offering.
Cons: Seasoning inconsistency. Wanted that Buffalo flavor punch but it doesn’t deliver. Not as good as Snyder’s Buffalo Pretzel Pieces.

Cheez-It and I have been on bad terms lately.

I recently tried their Crunch’d cheese puffs and they were a 3 out of 10 at best. Horrendous. They tasted like cheese flavored Cap’n Crunch. No bueno. It’s time for Cheez-It to win me back.

Sunshine, the maker of Cheez-It, have apparently been getting bombarded with requests for an “extra toasty” flavor of their flagship cracker. Now look, I’m not saying Sunshine is lying about the claim, but I would have never considered “extra toasty” a “flavor.” Maybe I should have.

I realized as I was eating these Cheez-Its that I love toasty and burnt snacks. This notion never dawned on me until that very moment. I love extra dark pretzels. I like that one over-browned Saltine in the sleeve, burnt chocolate chip cookies, and that one extra crispy French fry at the bottom of the bag. I even order my pizza “well done” so the crust is burnt and crispy. The people who were requesting extra toasty Cheez-Its were definitely on to something, and Sunshine delivered.

Extra Toasty Cheez-Its are friggin’ delicious. These are one of the most satisfying salty snacks I’ve had in a long time. In my opinion, they’ve improved on the regular ones in just about every way possible. I’m not positive the difference will blow everyone away, but I don’t see any reason to ever go back to the regular variety. If Cheez-Its were a Hollywood movie, these would be the ever-so-popular dark, gritty reboot of the outdated original that didn’t quite hold up over the years. These extra toasty ones are just flat better. Get with the times.

Cheez-Its always did the cheddar flavor right. It doesn’t overpowering you with the artificial stuff that other brands go overboard with, and these keep that family tradition alive with 100% real cheese. That being said, the “cheez” flavor wasn’t even really the star of the show for me, it was the flakey crunch of the extra toasty cracker itself. Add the perfectly complementing salt element on each piece, and they really hit a home run here. There’s a perfect balance happening. After every bite I wanted to yell “Toastttty” like that random dude who used to pop his head into Mortal Kombat levels…too obscure?

The aftertaste is pleasant as well. The flavor doesn’t dilute at all after you swallow. In fact, that might be a problem to some because it’s addictive, and you’ll want to just keep shoveling more of these down for the crunch factor.

As much as I wanted to give these a perfect ten, there is a bit of a grease factor. These would fall somewhere between Goldfish and potato chips on the grease scale. I noticed the paper plate I was eating off of was almost translucent once I finished.

I guess I should also warn you that the salt was pretty excessive here. That was not even remotely a problem for me, but I could understand it being a turnoff for some.

So, basically, my one complaint about the Extra Toasty Cheez-Its is that I wanted to finish the box in one sitting, but couldn’t thanks to a bit of heartburn. But I probably could have powered through it if I wanted to, so that’s not even a strong complaint.

If I learned one thing from eating these, it’s that “toasty” should absolutely be the new trendy “flavor.” More brands need to embrace this. I want burnt Ritz. Burnt potato and tortilla chips. Burnt Goldfish. Take your recipe and add an addition 5-10 minutes of baking time, slap a new name on the box and you’ve got yourself a sale. I have become a food pyro.

My hat goes off to Cheez-It for changing the cracker game, and for making the decision to put the hyphen in their name after the “Z.” No matter how good these tasted, I would have never bought a snack called “Chee-Zit.”

(Nutrition Facts – 27 crackers – 150 calories, 70 calories from fat, 8 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.)

Item: Cheez-It Extra Toasty Crackers
Purchased Price: $2.50
Size: 12.4 oz. box
Purchased at: Stop & Shop
Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Toasty is the new Orange is the New Black. Perfect flavor harmony. Flakey crunch. Crazy addictive. Proper hyphen usage. Fan requests. Mortal Kombat’s “Toasty” guy.
Cons: Greasy. Might need a Tums handy. Food pyros. Cheese flavored Cap’n Crunch.