Julie Measures

Measure your life by yards, cups, and miles

Deluxe Cheez-It Poppers

by 26 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MVCheezIt #CollectiveBias

cheezit deluxe mac and cheese poppers

I have a long standing tradition of making ‘themed’ food for sports watching. I remember when my favorite Dallas basketball team went to the playoffs a few years ago. I made a pizza with blue crust. And inadvertently used too much food coloring and we all had blue mouths/tongues. Oops.

For our current basketball watching activities I decided to try some deluxe mac and cheese ‘basketball’ Cheez-It Poppers. I started with some original Cheez-It’s, a box of the new Cheez-It Grooves (sharp white cheddar), and a couple of boxes of mac and cheese all from Target.  And right now Cheez-Its are on sale for 3/$8 at Target. You can use Target’s Cartwheel app to save an additional 35% off of this sale price when they buy 3 varieties of Cheez-Its.

cheezit target

Start by making the mac and cheese according to the directions on the box. Then you’ll want to refrigerate the mac and cheese for 10 hours or overnight.

cheezit macaroni and cheese

After refrigerating the macaroni and cheese it’s time to scoop it into round basketball shapes using a cookie dough scoop. I placed mine on a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Then they go in the freezer for 2 hours until they are firm. While they are in the freezer you can crush your Cheez-It Grooves, I did mine in the food processor.

 

cheezit mac and cheese poppers

Once the mac and cheese balls are ready coat them in the Cheez-It Grooves crumbs and then drop them into a pan of hot oil to fry them up. Cook them until they are a nice golden brown. Remove them to a plate with paper towels to cool enough to eat.

cheezit deep fry poppers

Then it’s time to enjoy your Cheez-It Poppers! I served mine on a plate alongside some original Cheez-Its and Cheez-It Crunch’d for extra munching. But you can serve them with your favorite Cheez-It! In fact, through April you vote on their favorite flavors/varieties from six popular Cheez-It flavors in the Most Valuable Cheese contest, as well as play games for a chance to win $10,000!

cheezit mac and cheese deluxe poppers

What is your favorite Cheez-It flavor? Have you ever used Cheez-Its in a recipe?

cheezit deluxe poppers

 

Comments

  9. Caitlin says

    I think I might be the only person in the world that doesn’t re-heat mac and cheese – but this recipe sure makes me want too! Love using cheese its for the crust! Looks delish!

    Reply

  12. spicedblog says

    Did I see that correctly? Fried mac and cheese balls coated with crumbled Cheez-Its? That sounds amazing! It’s the perfect college basketball snack food for sure!

    Reply

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