I’m trying not to toss my cookies as I write this post.
Welcome back to the wild and wacky world of DIY Japanese snack and candy kits. For $5, enjoy an hour of fun and feel like an alchemist as you craft tiny foods from packets of powder and water. When I searched for video reviews of Kracie’s pizza kit, I was surprised to learn it didn’t create candy, but a savory snack (unlike the candy sushi kit I recently reviewed). This pizza kit also differs from the sushi kit because it requires you microwave some components of the meal. Somehow, seven packets + water + microwave cooking creates two miniature pizzas with toppings, potato patties, and a fizzy soda. I curiously watched video reviewer HeyBrittany added her own salt to the potato patties and observed how the pizza sauce smelled like tomatoes. This was going to be wild.
When you unpack the kit, carefully trim the edges of the wrapper. It will unfold to contain the pizza box, drink label, and illustrations onto which you can place the cheese and potato wedges.
Here’s everything that comes inside the kit. All you need to provide is water.
The instructions indicate how to cut apart the plastic mold. The little triangular scoop on the top left is especially important because you’ll use it to measure out the correct amount of water for each packet. Each component requires 1-3 scoops of water.
I had difficulties folding and taping the pizza box together. The wrapper is flimsy and, no matter how I folded the little flaps, it didn’t look right. Oh well!
My favorite part of preparing this kit was forming the smiley potato cakes. I wouldn’t have known they were potato cakes if I hadn’t watched video tutorials. In the U.S., I typically associate fast food pizza with sides like bread sticks or chicken wings instead of potatoes, although I see Pizza Hut now serves waffle fries, now. Domino’s Japanese menu lists several flavors of baked potato wedges, plus Smiley Fries (I saw these at ALDI) described as, “Fries with a smile. . . literally.”
The process of making the potatoes involved mixing the powder with water, pressing it into the smiley potato mold, microwaving it, and cutting it into four pieces. It really did smell like potatoes. I added a sprinkle of salt just like HeyBrittany recommends. Her Japanese DIY candy/snack kits are fun to watch.
Their flavor was slightly potatoey, too. Not horribly offensive, but not something I wanted to revisit.
The pizza crust packet created a soft dough. I divided it into two balls and tried to press it into the crust guide on the inside of the pizza box. Mine was lumpy. Maybe some additional water would have helped.
You actually “cook” the dough by microwaving it. Trayse was intrigued.
Before the final pizza assembly can begin, you have to prepare the pizza toppings. The cheese packet created a freakishly cheesy substance with a stretchy texture that smelled like American cheese. The sauce smelled like tomato sauce and the sausage paste smelled meaty.
Unlike the other toppings, you scoop the sausage mixture back into the foil pouch which also serves as a piping bag. You fold down the top, cut off a bottom corner, and pipe little sausage blobs onto the pizza.
Mmmm. . . I know you’re hungry already!
After topping the crust with the sauce, cheese, and sausage, you microwave the pizzas one last time. The crust further solidifies and the cheese actually melts! It’s hard to describe the smell of these made-from-powder pizzas, piping hot from the microwave. It’s making my stomach hurt as I try to describe the aroma, so I won’t. The most pronounced odor was microwaved american cheese.
I peeled one of the finished pizzas from my kitchen plate and placed it in the pizza box I had worked so hard to create. Then, I sprinkled over the mysterious crunchy corn and pea bits from the seventh packet.
After all of this hard work, I had to take a bite while it was still warm. It tasted like sweet, pizza-flavored play dough and just typing this makes me gag. Jake came home around dinner time and I presented him with the tiny pizza. “Take a bite!” I insisted. He stared at it in horror and started backing away.
“Please, just take one bite,” I encouraged him. “No! Don’t make me eat that. It looks disgusting.” he responded.
“But I need your opinion for my blog post,” I pleaded. He agreed to take one tiny bite. He made a face and described it as vile.
“Why is it so sweet?” he asked.
The best way to remove the pizza taste from your mouth is to brush your teeth. However, the second best way is to chase it with the little grape soda. The soda fizzes when the water hits the purple powder and it’s the best tasting item in the kit.
Concluding thoughts
As positives, this kit was a lot of fun to create. For an hour’s worth of technically edible fun, it’s a relatively cheap thrill at $5. Both the pizza and sushi kits would provide a fun activity for children, or a curious adult like me. As minuses, the pizza and potatoes aren’t actually a viable snack option, unless you enjoy food-tinged play dough. I ordered my kits online at Amazon. You might also find Kracie’s DIY kits at United Noodles in Minneapolis, MN however, they have a cult following and sell out quickly.
