A toast to the effort

What else can you say about Cheez-Its? They're the best!  Unique, well-crafted, consistently delicious, and easy to grab almost anywhere.  They've been a part of the "flavor game" for a while with almost 10 flavors in the market.  What most people DON'T know is that ONE of those flavors is "Extra Toasty".  That's right, you know the taste.  Every once in a while, you reach into a box of regular Cheez-Its and you find one or two that sat under the toasting lamp for just a hair too long and have a slightly more charred look/taste.  Well, the folks at Sunshine got smart and boxed 'em up.  

I was not surprised to see the banner at the top of the box, which reads "#1 requested Cheez-It flavor".  It's a logical idea that almost any Cheez-It lover can embrace. That's why I was surprised to find that the "extra toasty" are only available in select locations.  I went from store to store only to find the regular assortment of flavors ranging from Original to White Cheddar.  Therefore,  I want to preface the rest of this post by saying, if you happen to wander past these in the snack isle, they're worth picking up regardless of whatever you might read hereafter.

Of course, when the Fat finds this selection in a random store, what does he do? That's right, he buys 2 boxes for a head to head taste off.  After all, the idea of having a rival box that could potentially replace my "go-to" original Cheez-Its tickled my imagination.  I was obligated to see if Sunshine had really beaten their classic cheese cracker snack with this dark and stormy option.  It was a moral imperative!

What I found left me a little surprised, and a LOT more disappointed.  Although the extra toasties had that little bit of char that made them that much more delicious, Sunshine didn't embrace the whole idea of a "firm toast". Albeit, the definition of "extra toasty" is subjective, but I expected a dynamic difference between the "extra toasty" and the regular "Zits". I didn't really get that from these.  My tactic was simple: I tried one, then the other, and then tried handfuls of each separately.  When push came to shove, there was no dynamic difference between the two. When it was all said and done, the extra toasty didn't leave me especially satisfied, but rather wanting more of that toasty flavor throughout.  I guess what's deceiving about the extra toasty box is that it takes away from that magic of finding the "unicorn" in the regular box of Cheez-Its.  With the luster of finding the random "toasty" gone, it was tough to say that one Cheez-It far surpassed the other.  I do intend to try the "extra toasty" again, and may even go as far as to throw some of them in the toaster oven myself to see if I can draw more dynamic flavor out of them.

Needless to say, after the initial evaluation the bags were COMBINED to make the PENULTIMATE part of the tasting.  Together, these two flavors really just made the most exceptional box of Cheez-Its ever.  The experience overall left me wondering if SOME boxes of the extra toasty Cheez-Its are more "cooked" than others?  I have not yet had an opportunity to explore this idea further, as these are hard to come by. That's why I HIGHLY recommend (despite the lackluster review) that if you bump into these in your local grocery/bodega you pick them up to try for yourself.  I'm not done with the extra toasty Cheez-Its.  They're out there, and they're TOASTY!!!