Flavors Tried: Marshmallow & Chocolate Peanut Butter
Price: $39 for 16 bars ($2.44 per bar)
Nutrition (for one bar): 140 Calories, 6g Fat, 17g Carbs (2g Net Carbs), 12g Protein
Magic Spoon is now on their third iteration of protein cereal bars, and since I’m a sucker, I’m giving them a try for the third time now.
I love Magic Spoon Cereal, but the bars fell seriously short the first time around. The new bars were an improvement, but still lacking.
Now we have version 3… is this going to finally be the delicious crispy cereal treat I’ve been hoping for? Let’s find out.
What’s in the Magic Spoon Cereal Treats?
Before we dive into the taste test, let’s talk about what these bars are packing.
Each Magic Spoon Marshmallow Treat comes in at 140 calories, boasts an impressive 12 grams of protein, and carries only 2 grams of net carbs. If you’re keto, this is certainly encouraging to see.
On paper, these cereal treats are very impressive.
A serving of Magic Spoon cereal contains around 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 13 grams of protein, so it’s pretty much on-par with what you get in the cereal. In fact, looking at the ingredients, these are essentially just Magic Spoon cereal in bar form.
How Were The Old Magic Spoon Bars?
Before we dive into these bars, let’s talk about the previous iterations of these bars.
In case you missed the first version from years ago, here’s what they used to look like:
The previous Magic Spoon protein bars, with their granola-like chew and extremely disappointing flavor profiles, left many of us (myself included) wanting more.
They later re-released the bars and improved them, as you can clearly tell by the appearance of the new bars:
These were a huge improvement, but still missed the mark on the nostalgic flavor I was hoping for.. These aren’t your classic marshmallow treats; they’re keto cereal in bar form.
The fact that these were advertised as marshmallow treats, I was hoping for some kind of marshmallow gooeyness in the bar. Unfortunately, it contained none of that.
All things considered, the bar didn’t really impress me. The flavor was average at best, but I felt you’d be better off just eating a bag of dry Magic Spoon versus buying one of these bars.
Now, it looks like Magic Spoon has gone through a slight reformulation and also offers different flavors, so let’s see if they’ve improved.
Magic Spoon Marshmallow Cereal Treat Review
I love the size of these bars, and for only 140 calories, it’s incredibly impressive.
I was hoping for a little more “marshmallow” to this one, since that was seriously lacking in the previous version of these bars, but these seem mostly the same as the previous version.
The only noticeable difference is that now there are full cereal pieces mixed into the bar. It seems like Magic Spoon is leaning into the fact that these bars are simply a way to eat Magic Spoon cereal on the go, not necessarily as a substitute for actual Rice Krispies Treats.
When you bite into this bar, it truly is Magic Spoon cereal in bar form. There is a tackiness as you chew that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve had the cereal before.
When it comes to flavor, this marshmallow treat is… interesting. The bar greets you with a toasty, almost savory profile that’s intriguing, but also kind of confusing.
Almond butter replaces marshmallow to hold the cereal together, creating a nuttiness that’s pretty pronounced. It’s different from the pure, sweet marshmallow taste and texture of our childhoods, but it’s not necessarily bad.
Biting into the bar, you’ll find it’s airy, which is nice. But you’ll definitely miss the marshmallow’s sweet glue that brings everything together.
The lack of a marshmallow element is definitely a letdown, but not unexpected for a keto protein bar. Ultimately, the texture just kind of tastes like they took a bunch of Magic Spoon cereal and stuck it together with almond butter.
Which, frankly, I think is exactly what they did.
I wouldn’t call this flavor “marshmallow” necessarily. If it were “vanilla almond”, it would make much more sense to me.
Magic Spoon Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Treat Review
The chocolate peanut butter Magic Spoon bar is significantly better than the marshmallow flavor.
While I don’t love this one, it’s much more in line with what I was hoping for.
The Magic Spoon peanut butter flavor is one of my favorite flavors of theirs, so it makes sense that I would enjoy this one. Paired with dark chocolate, this one just works.
Much like the marshmallow flavor, if you’ve never had Magic Spoon cereal before, the texture is going to take some getting used to. The cereal pieces are chewy and tacky, and it might be off-putting for some. For me, it’s not a dealbreaker.
This is still very much a keto bar, and the flavor won’t make you want to replace your Peanut Butter Cups with this bar, but it’s a decent enough combination. For 140 calories and 12 grams of protein, you could do much worse.
Magic Spoon Treats: Final Thoughts
The Magic Spoon Treats find themselves in a interesting spot.
They’re a good enough cereal bar for Magic Spoon fans and offer convenience over a bowl of cereal with milk. If you follow a keto diet and need a quick handheld snack, these are a great option.
However, if you’re not keto and simply looking for a delicious protein (or cereal) bar, you can find much better options.
For Magic Spoon lovers, these treats definitely work. You’re getting Magic Spoon cereal in the form of a bar. Nothing more, nothing less.
For others, they’re worth a try if you find them at your local grocery store, with the caveat that the sticky nature of Magic Spoon is going to take some getting used to.
Would I recommend them? If you love Magic Spoon and are on the hunt for a keto-friendly snack, sure. Just don’t expect these to be elevated beyond eating dry Magic Spoon cereal.
For me, I’d prefer to just choose my favorite Magic Spoon flavors and enjoy those as a snack, especially considering the macros are nearly identical.
