Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Ice Cream

You all know Kelly M. as your Foodie Vitamin Correspondent for the Bariatric Foodie monthly e-mail newsletter (you ARE signed up, right?). But she, like any other post-op, loves healthy yumminess too! I recently sent her a Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough protein bar to play with. Here’s what she did with it.

When Nik sent me this new Quest bar, it was to make protein ice cream with it and document the process. But I realized that I left my icecream maker at my sister’s house. But that’s ok because you know what we say here at Bariatric Foodie — play with your food! That’s why I’m going to tell you both how I made my ice cream this time (just in case some of you don’t have an ice cream maker) and how to make it with the ice cream maker.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Ice Cream

(Makes 3-4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 c. skim milk (use any kind of milk you like, just keep in mind that fat free milk makes ice cream that is less rich and creamy than ice cream usually is)
• 1.5 scoops vanilla protein powder (I used Syntrax Nectar vanilla bean torte protein powder because I think it tastes just like vanilla ice cream. Click the links on the words to see the product!)
• ½ tsp. no-calorie sweetener (I used Splenda, although it’s not pictured)
• ½ tsp. sugar-free vanilla pudding (if you don’t have any, your ice cream should turn out fine without it, but it helps make it a little bit thicker and creamier)
• One Quest chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar

Put all ingredients except the protein bar in a cup with a lid and shake well.  You can also mix them in a blender if you prefer. Personally, I think some brands of protein powder mix up better in a blender, but Syntrax Nectar does just fine when I shake it.

Now, if you have an ice cream maker, pour the liquid in and turn it on. Let it go for about 20 minutes, or whatever the instructions for your ice cream maker say.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the liquid into a glass and stick it in the fridge.

Then chop up the chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar into tiny little pieces.  Or chop it into bigger chunks if you like that better. It’s up to you. And yes, I snuck a little taste (or two… or three…) while I was chopping. Tastes just like chocolate chip cookie dough. I love raw cookie dough.

If you’re making your protein ice cream in an ice cream maker, after about 20 minutes, dump the chopped up protein bar in and let it mix for another five minutes or so.

If you’re making protein ice cream without an ice cream maker, unfortunately, you’ve got a bit more work to do. Every 10 minutes or so, stir up the partially frozen liquid.  After about 20 minutes, mine looked like this.

After about 50 minutes, I had vanilla slush.  I poured the slush into a bowl, added the chopped up protein bar, and stirred well.

I stuck the bowl in the freezer for another half hour and voila!  Chocolate chip cookie dough protein ice cream.  Yum!

Now, the nutritional stats for your chocolate chip cookie dough protein ice cream will vary depending on what kind of milk you use and what brand of vanilla protein powder you use, but I wanted to mention that my entire batch of ice cream had about 70 grams of protein.  I’ll probably get three or four servings out of this, so I’ll get 17 to 23 grams of protein in each delicious serving.

(Never tried the Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar? Click here to read Nik's review and then click here to order some AND support Bariatric Foodie at the same time!)

BF Review: Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bar

Free samples of this product were provided for the purposes of this review. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Chocolate. Chip. Cookie. Dough.

Really Quest? It's like you looked into the mind of the average weight loss surgery post-op and searched for the one thing we miss and cannot seem to find a reasonable substitute for and THAT is what you made your next flavor.

Well played, Quest. Well played...

So this is the newest offering and they were nice enough to send me some to try! So here, of course, is my review.

The 360

I didn't do a complete 360 photo (showing both sides of the packaging) because...well I didn't. BUT, here are the stats for this bar (from the Quest website):

So let's go over my protein rules. For me to consider something a good source of protein it must:

• Have one gram of protein for every 10 calories
• Be significantly higher in protein grams than net carbohydrate grams

So how does this stack up? Well for the first, it would need to have at least 19g protein to match up with the 190 calories. It has 21. So CHECK!

For the second it has 3 net grams of carbs (since we don't digest fiber or sugar alcohols, here erythritol, we don't have to count either in the net carb count), so yeah...21g protein vs. 3 net grams of carbs would be significant in my book. So CHECK!

Aesthetics

For those new to my reviews, aesthetics are the look, smell and texture of the actual product.

The Look/Texture: Now, opening the bar, it looks like most any other Quest bar. 

I recently had the pleasure of having an in-depth conversation with the folks at Quest about how they make their products and learned that all Quest bars are made with a base of nut butters (for those with allergies usually this is almond butter except in peanut flavored bars) which contributes to their...waxy...appearance and semi-tough texture. 

BUT no worries, Foodies! We know from former Quest experiences that we can get around that texture by microwaving the bar for about 12-15 seconds in the microwave (more on that later).

The smell: Ok, here's a mystery. I opened the package and I smelled chocolate, that wonderful "sugary" cookie dough smell and...coconuts. So I look at the packaging. There is no ingredient that indicates the use of coconuts in any way. But I smell them. So...that's interesting. Just to make sure I asked the Foodie Nation on Facebook and several others picked that up too. It's noteworthy that when I gave a bar to La Grande Diva to sample she also mentioned it. I dunno. Your guess is as good as mine!

Mouth-feel/Taste

This is where I go into the actual taste. When I say mouthfeel it literally does refer to what happens when the product goes into your mouth!

Mouth-feel: I took a bite before nuking my bar just to test it out. Quest must be playing with their formulation because this bar is WAY easier to bite unheated than past bars. It's still a bit chewy though, so on to the microwave we went and after 12 seconds, here's what I had:

Notice the ability to make indentations easily with the finger. It's soft and gooey! It's also noteworthy that there's a good bit of chocolate in this thing. It's like when you grab a cookie fresh out of the oven - you have melty bits of chocolate on your fingertips! 

Taste: Ohhhhhhhh, Quest. You had me at cookie dough but...(cover the kids eyes) HOT DAMN AND HOLY SHIT! (sorry, I'm not usually a big fan of expletives but they really are necessary here). These bars are GOOD! It really does taste like cookie dough. Again, you get the sugary, buttery taste, the chocolate, the gooeyness. It's all there for you!

It is noteworthy to mention I also picked up the TASTE of coconuts in this bar. Not strong. Very slight. Where is it coming from???? I'll give a dollar to the first person who can tell me! ;)

Value

A box of these bars will set you back what any Quest bar will ($24.99 for a box of 12, which shakes out to $2.08 a bar).  However, they are also sold in some retailers as individual bars if you'd like to pick up just one to try or a few instead of a whole box. I believe they are sold at GNC Living Well. I would be remiss not to tell you that if you order through this link OR the ad on the right menu bar of this blog, Bariatric Foodie gets a little kickback, which keeps the Foodie Nation rolling!

Final Verdict:

So Quest sent me two boxes of these bars. Those boxes are now gone (although to be fair they sent them MORE than 2 weeks ago). I loved them. My kids loved them. My friends with whom I shared them love them (I really should be on Quest's payroll for my conversion abilities). The bars have great stats (high in protein and fiber, excellent number of net carbs) and they just taste goooooooood! So I deem them worthy of consumption!

I know I usually do a giveaway with a review but since the Bariatric Foodie Pledge just ended I have some sorting out to do before I do another giveaway. HOWEVER, Quest would like to give you some bars so look out for a giveaway of these babies within the next two weeks! 

In the meantime don't forget to use the ad in the right menu bar if you want to order yourself some!

BF Two-fer: Nik's Twix Protein Shake & Chocolate Chip Cookie Protein Shake

This is actually a two-fer. By accident of, of course. This post was supposed to just be about the Twix shake. Cuz it's almost Halloween. And I promised yummy recipes!

But here's what had happened.

I had one little portion of sugar-free caramel syrup left. I put it on the counter so I could photo the recipe. Well, while I was out my kids, motivated from my last rant about them walking by trash and not picking it up, threw the bottle away, thinking I was done with it. The lesson? Be careful of the timing of your rants, parents!

So I am still going to give you the recipe but there's this other recipe I've also been making with another of the syrups in the Twix recipe so I thought I'd show you that one too. This is me. Being generous. Weird.

Nik's Twix Protein Shake

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. milk
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I used Chike Chocolate Bliss)
• 1 tbsp. Davinci sugar-free caramel syrup
• 1 tbsp. Davinci sugar-free cookie dough syrup
• Ice

Nik's Chocolate Chip Cookie Protein Shake

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. milk
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I used Chike Very Vanilla)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp Davinci sugar-free cookie dough syrup
• 1/8 tsp. imitation butter extract
• Ice

Directions for both: Combine all ingredients in a blender. Mix according to the Triple X Method. Or not. Your choice!

So now you have two MORE recipes to help you fend off the Halloween candy. Now...I know what some of you are thinking. "Nik, what's up with the syrups we have to purchase online???" 

You're right. Many of my shakes do use syrups you have to purchase online as opposed to buying them in the store. BUT I do try to use them as I did here, in several different recipes so you have more than one idea of how to use them. BUT for those that are still wary, I have to tell you the Bariatric Foodie Holiday Survival Kit (click the link for details) is a great way to "try before you buy" some specialty items I use in my shakes.

If you haven't already gotten your Survival Kit, there are still some available! Remember, I'm only selling 200 of them this year and more than 100 are already spoken for! Also remember when you purchase one you are entered into a raffle to win a BodyMedia Fit Link Armband (read our review here) that measures the calories you burn every day to help you reach your goals! Click here to learn more about the Holiday Survival Kit. 

And keep playing with your food!