Following yesterday’s post about how Enlightened has a new version of its Marshmallow Treats out on the market, different from what we purchased at GNC. We headed down to our local Vitamin Shoppe and picked up a handful of the updated protein snack, to finally bring you our full review of the product.
Nutrition profile
Before we get into how Enlightened’s Marshmallow Treats tastes, we’ll quickly go over its all-important nutrition profile. Each 75g block provides 15g of protein mostly coming from milk and soy protein, a rather large 48g of carbohydrates with 9g of that sugar, 3.5g of fat (1.5g saturated), for a total of 270 calories. Basically, it’s not as good macro wise as most protein bars, although that is something we hoped it would make up for in flavor.
Not as good as they look
When you first lay eyes on the Enlightened Marshmallow Treats, you can’t help but think it’s a protein inspired spin on Rice Krispies Treats. It looks light and fluffy with presumably some sweetness involved, so going in you assume that’s how the first bite is going to play out.
For us, the Marshmallow Treats don’t taste anywhere near as good as they look. While Enlightened does appear to have made them a lot easier to bite through compared to the previous version, they’re still not that soft and taste a little bit bland. Their various extras like the marshmallows in the Original flavor and chocolate chips in Double Chocolate, do add a bit of taste, but it’s not enough to overcome the tough rice body consistency.
Tough competition
There are really two reasons we feel slightly unimpressed with the Enlightened snack which are BSN’s Protein Crisp and the Ooh Snap Bar. They both prove a Rice Krispies style treat can be done well with great consistency and plenty of flavor. If neither existed we’d probably think the Marshmallow Treats were great, however, they do and have significantly better macros with the Ooh Snap Bar packing the same amount of protein and 110 fewer calories.
Plenty of potential
As mentioned earlier, our hope going into Enlightened’s Marshmallow Treats was that we’d get something with enough flavor to make up for the high calorie to protein ratio. Much to our surprise, they don’t quite get there, although we will say the consistency of the newer version is much better than the previous one.
With more flavor and an even better consistency, the Marshmallow Treats could be a strong competitor, especially with their appealing size and packaging. Unfortunately, for now, they don’t really compare to the similar style protein snacks on the market, that as mentioned also get you more protein for fewer calories.
