Reviewing and ranking of Lenny & Larry’s Cookie-fied plant-based Protein Bar Variety Pack. These flavors include Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cookies & Creme, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, and White Chip Macadamia.
They released this line of bars on June 8, 2021.
Overall Review & Verdict
Just by the looks, they don’t look like fully plant-based bars–those are cookie pieces in these, right? I guess technically not, but kind of crazy to see! To no one’s surprise, each bar has a similar vibe going on, that is, there seems to be some type of cookie or chips mixed throughout it. They’re not oat-based; instead, they use plant-based protein mixes and other ingredients to keep the appearance and composition.
However, most of these bars’ textures remind me of a fake oat bar and protein bar uniformly mixed together, as well as coming off as drier than they should be. Some flavors are definitely more fake-feeling than others. Notably, each bar also doesn’t look as nice as the packaging makes it appear; they’re definitely a lot less loaded!
Overall, I don’t think I’d recommend these. They’re just too artificial-feeling in all metrics, and most of the bars don’t have a good enough taste to even try them. They’re not terrible, but they’re definitely below average. It feels like it’s someone’s first time making protein bars. Too dry, artificial, and the flavors aren’t as pronounced as they should be.
Flavor Tier List
1. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
This is the most loaded-looking of them all, giving the appearance of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough with the addition of even more broken-up cookie pieces and many more chocolate pieces.
Like all the others, though, it’s a bit dry and dense, and the mouthfeel makes it feel fake and artificial. What really sells it, though, is that there is a pleasantly non-artificial and moderately sweet peanut flavor. Plus, all of the embedded chocolate chip pieces give it a noticeable, lightly crunchy contrast–there are quite a lot of those little chocolate chips that boost it both in terms of flavor and crunchy texture.
This is one of the more pronounced flavor-wise out of the bunch and definitely my favorite. The peanut flavor is nice and the chocolate chips give it a decent mouthfeel that doesn’t make it feel as fake as the others.
2. Cookies & Creme
This looks interesting, but not as fancy as the packaging. Most of the composition resembles a dark chocolate-looking bar with several embedded dark cookies and regular broken-up cookies throughout, giving it a chunky appearance.
The taste is mostly dark chocolate cocoa. For a dark chocolate, it’s reasonably sweet. It doesn’t come across as artificial or bitter either; it’s basically a lightly chewy and dense, sugar-based dark chocolate bar that reminds me of an oat and protein bar mixed together. Notably, it does fall on the drier side. The embedded pieces give it a smidge of a crunch here and there that helps with the contrasting mouthfeel.
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
A brown looking protein bar with chocolate chips and regular broken-up cookie pieces. Biting in, it’s dense and feels artificial, and for some reason, a bit dry–I needed some water after this!
The taste is a middle-of-the-road sugary sweetness with a suggestion of chocolate and cookie from the pieces. Cookie dough? Definitely not, this tastes a bit too fake and doesn’t have enough of a cookie or chocolate taste to be called that.
Overall, it feels too bland and fake.
4. White Chip Macadamia
Unlike the packaging, which makes it look loaded, this is a dry-looking, plain protein bar-looking treat. It’s mostly a brown sludge-looking uniform bar with a few white chunk pieces throughout. Honestly, it looks very artificial and boring.
Taste-wise, it’s just like the appearance. It’s a bit chewy with no noticeable contribution from the chips, as they seem equally soft. The bar as a whole is dense, and the mouthfeel feels like I’m chewing through something fake and shouldn’t have been made into a food. It’s decently sweet, and if I had to guess the flavors, I’m not sure if I could. Maybe a little nutty something with some sugar? Honestly, that texture and appearance is really throwing me off, and the flavor is more bland than it ought to be.
This bar was by far the most bland and fake one in every metric.