Protein Cookie Dough Bark – All Day I Dream About Food

Protein Cookie Dough Bark is a guilt-free snack to help fuel you through your busy day. This easy snack combines indulgent flavor with nutritious ingredients to keep your cravings in check!

Got a snacky tooth? Yeah, me too, and I am always on the hunt for low-carb high-protein recipes that satisfy. This Protein Cookie Dough Bark is a clear winner! Packed with healthy fats and 10 grams of protein, it’s perfect for a quick snack or post-workout treat.

It can be tough sometimes to get enough protein into your diet. While the bulk of your nutrition should come from well-rounded meals, I do find that having some good healthy snacks on hand can help. Easy make-ahead recipes like Peanut Butter Protein Balls or Taco Bites provide quick protein hits when you need it.

They help fill in any nutritional gaps and round out meals that might be a little short on this vital nutrient. And they’re a great way to ward off cravings for less nutritious options.

Lately, I’ve been munching on this easy Protein Cookie Dough Bark. I keep it in the freezer and grab a piece or two after lunch. It feels a little indulgent but also healthy. That’s my favorite way to satisfy a snack attack!

Ingredient Notes

• Almond butter: Nut butter helps provide some moisture and gives this keto snack a cookie dough texture. You can use other nut or seed butters instead of almond butter.
• Butter: A little butter helps with flavor and texture. You can swap it for coconut oil or avocado oil if you prefer.
• Sweetener: You will need a powdered sweetener, to avoid grittiness. You can also use highly concentrated sweeteners like pure stevia or pure monk fruit.
• Protein powder: I recommend a vanilla protein powder for better flavor, but it can be whey, egg white, or vegan. Collagen may also work but the bark will be quite soft.
• Almond flour: This helps stabilize the cookie dough bark. If you need to be nut-free, try using sunflower seed flour.
• Keto chocolate: I like using mini chips for this recipe, as they distribute more evenly. For the topping, I just used Lily’s dark chocolate.
• Coconut oil: This helps the chocolate melt more smoothly so you can spread it evenly over the bark. You can use other kinds of oil.
• Salt: A little salt always helps intensify the sweetness. This protein bark is also great with a little flaked sea salt sprinkled on top.

Step by Step Directions

1. Melt the almond butter: In a medium bowl, melt the almond butter and butter together, stirring until melted and smooth. You can do this in the microwave or over a pan of barely simmering water.
2. Add the dry ingredients: Stir in the sweetener until well combined, working out any lumps with a silicone spatula. Add the protein powder, almond flour, and salt and stir well to combine. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add water 1 teaspoon at a time.
3. Add the chocolate chips: Stir in the chocolate chips until well distributed.
4. Roll out the dough: Gather the dough up into a ball and transfer to a large piece of parchment paper. Pat into a rough rectangle. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Remove the top parchment and transfer to a cookie sheet.
5. Melt the chocolate: In a small bowl, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together until smooth. Spread the chocolate evenly overtop the cookie dough bark.
6. Freeze the bark: Freeze until firm, at least 1 hour, then break with your hands or cut into pieces. Store in the freezer.

Tips for Success

Protein Cookie Dough Bark is a highly adaptable recipe, and you can use a number of different sweeteners, protein powders, or oils. But your choice of ingredients will affect the results some so you need to know how to adjust.

Sweeteners: I recommend a bulk powdered sweetener such as Swerve or a powdered allulose, as it will give the bark a little more structure. You can use high intensity sweeteners but you may need to use a little more almond flour to get the right dough texture.

Protein powder: Any whey, egg white, or plant-based protein should work. I used Just Ingredients Vanilla Bean, which is a casein-free protein that contains whey, collagen, and plant proteins. You could try collagen peptides but they may make the bark very soft and a bit gooey.

If you only have unflavored protein, try adding additional sweetener (1 tablespoon or so) and some vanilla extract (1 teaspoon).

Fats/oils: You want a nut or seed butter to give this bark the right consistency but it doesn’t have to be almond butter. It could be sunflower butter (for a nut-free version) or even peanut butter. You can also replace the butter with coconut oil.

Water: I don’t specify a quantity of water because it will depend a great deal on the other ingredients you use. I needed about 2 teaspoons using the ingredients listed. But even that might change if, for example, your nut butter was very oily.

If you find that your dough is too soft and wet, you will need to adjust by adding more dry ingredients. You could use more protein powder or more almond flour. The end consistency should be like a firm cookie dough.

Protein Cookie Dough Bark

Servings: 8 servings

Prep Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 12 minutes mins

Protein Cookie Dough Bark is a guilt-free snack to help fuel you through your busy day. This easy snack combines indulgent flavor with nutritious ingredients to keep your cravings in check!

• In a medium bowl, melt the almond butter and butter together, stirring until melted and smooth. You can do this in the microwave or over a pan of barely simmering water.

• Stir in the sweetener until well combined, working out any lumps with a silicone spatula.

• Add the protein powder, almond flour, and salt and stir well to combine. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add water 1 teaspoon at a time. (The mixture should be like cookie dough but should not be sticky.)

• Stir in the chocolate chips until well distributed.

• Gather the dough up into a ball and transfer to a large piece of parchment paper. Pat into a rough rectangle. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Remove the top parchment and transfer to a cookie sheet.

• In a small bowl, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together until smooth. Spread the chocolate evenly overtop the cookie dough bark.

• Freeze until firm, at least 1 hour, then break with your hands or cut into pieces. Store in the freezer.

Storage Instructions: Store the bark in a covered container in the freezer for up to two months. 

Serving: 43g (approximately) | Calories: 179kcal | Carbohydrates: 7.4g | Protein: 9.6g | Fat: 13.9g | Saturated Fat: 4.9g | Fiber: 4.3g