Cookies and Brownies

Food Review: Protein Bakery Cookies and Brownies

Healthy sweets can be healthy in different ways. In the case of Protein Bakery, it's not because the treats are low fat or low cal. Rather, they shun the artificial additives and are designed to satisfy your hunger more than the typical junk food. These handmade, gluten-free goodies use all-natural ingredients, including rolled oats instead of wheat, whey protein, brown sugar, eggs, and butter.

For this taste test, I sampled three of Protein Bakery's baked goods, including the brownie with chocolate chips, the blondie with chocolate chips, and the coconut-chocolate chip cookies. To find out what I thought, read more.
I was a bit surprised that these "healthy" desserts have so much sugar — only 10 percent fewer carbohydrates than a typical brownie or cookie, according to Protein Bakery's website. The brownie has 380 calories, 21 grams of fat, and 12 grams of saturated fat; the blondie comes with 360 calories and 19 grams of fat; and each chocolate-coconut cookie (they come two per pack) has 130 calories and 7 grams of fat.

In terms of flavor, these were tasty but not the most delicious things ever. The coconut-chocolate chip cookie was definitely my favorite: It had a perfect chewy texture with a delightful crunch from the coconut and just a touch of cinnamon. The blondie tasted a lot like a Tollhouse cookie and was better than the brownie, which was just kind of boring, but both had an oddly dense texture that made them taste unhomemade.

However, I will say that these desserts were far more filling than typical brownies and cookies, so I wasn't tempted to pig out. I ate them gradually, having a quarter of a brownie here and half a cookie there, and shared them with my family. Which made me wonder: Why are Protein Bakery's serving sizes so darn big? As you can see in the photo below, the brownie was enormous: about three inches wide and an inch thick. (That's only a quarter of the blondie in the top photo.) If Protein Bakery is trying to make healthy treats that fill you up better than other sweets, I don't understand why they'd sell such gluttonous portions.

Want to try these brownies and cookies for yourself? Though some retail outlets carry Protein Bakery, your best bet is to order them online. If you taste them, be sure to tell me what you think.