Review: Cracker Jack’D (The Entire Snack Line)

Happy happy Monday, So Good Readers.  Just your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy here. A while back, over on JunkFoodGuy.com, I reviewed a couple of the new Cracker Jack’D items that I found at Walgreens – new, re-designed, on-the-go snacks from the makers of CrackerJack.  I remember being back and forth on them…some I liked a lot, some were just ok, some had caffeine, some didn’t.

Well, the folks at Cracker Jack’D decided they wanted my take on the entire line of their new “Snacks with Impact” line, and I came home to find this box:

…with these Cracker Jack’D items inside:

It was a veritable Cracker Jack’D Justice League of Flavors.  SPICY PIZZERIA! BUFFALO RANCH! SALTED CARAMEL! BERRY YOGURT! ZESTY QUESO! CHEDDAR BBQ! PB & CHOCOLATE!  ASSEMBLE AND FORM: SNACKS WITH IMPACT!

Anyways, I was thrilled to try these snacks.  Let’s experience them together, shall we? First are the INTENSE MIXES, which according to Cracker Jack’D are “delicious snack mixes that have big, intense flavor and pack a powerful crunch.”

First up: Cracker Jack’D Spicy Pizzeria Intense Mix!

This Cracker Jack’D Spicy Pizzeria Intense Mix had some mild pizza flavor. Mainly, I tasted a nice savory cheese flavor with some tanginess from the tomato powder.  The actual taste of pizza-tomato was pretty light.  Some spice to this mix…gave me a slight burn at back of throat.  The mix of corn nuts, bread pieces, and other crunchy bits had a nice general starchiness. Very crunchy with a nice general savoriness. Not the biggest pizza flavor, but it did give a hint of pie flavor, and I did like it.

Next: Cracker Jack’D Buffalo Ranch Intense Mix!

I’m very critical of Buffalo-flavored snacks, and I’d give these Cracker Jack’D Buffalo Ranch Intense Mix a 5/10.  Let me explain: all the crunchy bits had a nice creamy, slight buffalo flavor. It had a decent tanginess to it, which was reminiscent of buffalo flavor, and was very heavy on the tomato powder.  In the end, the flavor reminded more of Spicy Nacho Doritos, than buffalo flavor.  Which isn’t a bad thing.  Nice and crunchy.  So my final review is that even though I don’t think it was the strongest Buffalo snack in the world, it TASTED GOOD, overall.

Next are the Cluster Mixes, which are “tasty clusters mixed with nuts to give adults a hearty, filling snack.”

Let’s open up the Cracker Jack’D Cheddar BBQ Hearty Mix!

As I stated over on my personal blog: “New Cracker Jack’D Cheddar BBQ Hearty Mix wasn’t bad.  The almonds and peanuts were basically Cajun style, with bits of powdered flavoring all over them, providing a savory, smoky flavor.  The Cheddar BBQ clusters were really the star of the show, here, and they were full of smoky, sweet BBQ flavor with a nice tangy creamy finish of cheese (not sure if I could call it cheddar).  Pretty good, all in all.”

Next up: Cracker Jack’D PB & Chocolate Hearty Mix!

As I also stated over on JunkFoodGuy.com: “New Cracker Jack’D PB & Chocolate Hearty Mix had a few more surprises than the Cheddar BBQ version.  For one, the mix of both honey roasted peanuts and salted peanuts gave the entire mouthful a really nice sweet/savory contrast.  The chocolate covering and the peanut butter coverings to the oat clusters were, to be fair, standard – full of oil, but also full of smooth peanut butter and chocolatey flavor.  The oat clusters themselves were crunchy, and provided a nice texture.  Basically, a mouthful of this felt like a crunchy peanut butter cup.”

Next: Cracker Jack’D Zesty Queso Hearty Mix!

The Cracker Jack’D Zesty Queso Hearty Mix had some immediate sharp cheesy, cajun spice flavor.  Very interesting.  While I didn’t think immediately of queso dip when I tasted this, there was PLENTY of bold flavor here.  The clusters especially absorbed all of the cajun-y cheesy flavor.  The cheese flavor was sharp and flavorful.  The powder, however, didn’t really stick to the nuts that were packaged with the clusters. Eaten as a whole, however, there was more than enough powder to go around.

Next: Cracker Jack’D Berry Yogurt Hearty Mix!

Cracker Jack’D Berry Yogurt Hearty Mix was probably my favorite snack of all of these.  It was nicely salty and very sweet.  Each of the clusters were embedded with dried berries, and then some of clusters were covered in a nice sweet yogurt coating.  Overall, there was plenty of good berry flavor.  Everything was very crunchy, and the saltiness of the peanuts really helped kick the overall taste into high gear.  VERY high marks on this one.

And finally: Cracker Jack’D Salted Caramel Sweet ‘n Savory Clusters!

The only one of the new snacks that actually resembled good old school CrackerJack, Cracker Jack’D Salted Caramel Sweet ‘n Savory Clusters were basically a salted up, kicked up version of the classic.  Lots of nice sweet caramel coated popcorn and, instead of full on whole nuts, plenty of little bits of almond stuck to the coatings of each piece of popcorn.  The flavor of this mix was VERY salty…more salty than regular CrackerJack.  This had a really good flavor – truly a Salted Caramel treat.  Really, really good.

So THERE YOU HAVE IT! The entire snack line, experienced through me to you.  Thanks to Cracker Jack’D for giving me chance to try all these…by the time I was done, I was full.  Like, legit full.  So many snacks, so little time.  Someone get me a stretcher.

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy and read more reviews at JunkFoodGuy.com. Let’s hang out.