Sundays call for sweets, amirite?? On this rainy, drizzly Sunday, I’m super excited to share this Birthday Cake Protein Cookie Dough with you! I absolutely love the nostalgia of birthday cake flavored desserts and this one is so easy that you can whip up a batch with the kiddos and enjoy it with 7 grams of protein per serving.
Note: this post used to include 2 other flavors of cookie dough, but I’ve removed them to focus on the best of the bunch!
I’ve made a few protein cookie doughs in the past, but have only used chickpeas in those recipes (don’t knock it until you try it, because it’s delicious!!). Anyway, as much as I love those recipes (seriously), I wanted to create a protein cookie dough that was a bit more accessible. Chickpeas, otherwise known as garbanzo beans, are easy to find, but not quite as easy to work with as flour. I also really wanted to achieve that classic cookie dough texture and flavor, and I think I did a pretty damn good job! To get there, there’s really no getting around the holy trinity of baking…flour, sugar, and butter. Yum 😉
Speaking of that classic cookie dough texture, the type of protein powder you use in this recipe definitely matters! Check it out…
The Best Protein Powder for Cookie Dough
The type of protein powder you use in this recipe has a huge impact on the final texture of the cookie dough! Here you can see how the birthday cake flavor turned out with 4 different kinds of protein.
- Whey + Casein Blend – This was my favorite protein powder to use in the the cookie dough. The dough turned out tender but still held its form easily. It also retained a good level of moisture so it wasn’t overly dry or overly wet, but instead came the closest to the real thing. I also tried different ratios of whey to casein and found that my favorite was 3 parts casein to 1 part whey (so out of 1 cup protein powder, 3/4 cup should be casein and 1/4 cup should be whey).
- Casein Only – I found this one to be a bit too firm and dry. When you mix casein protein powder with liquids, it generally results in an ultra creamy mixture, but that wasn’t the best thing for this recipe. You can see in the photo that it really held its shape strong!
- Whey Only – This resulted in a really soft cookie dough that struggled to hold its shape and was a little too wet and sticky to imitate the real thing.
- Plant Protein – Using plant protein in this recipe is a whole other ballgame. Plant based powders typically have stronger underlying flavors (like from pea protein) and tend to be a bit gritty compared to dairy based powders – read more about that here. That means the cookie dough made with it carries over some of those same qualities, but I still thoroughly enjoyed eating the plant protein version of this cookie dough. Just note that you’ll need a bit more almond milk to get a cookie dough like texture. I recommend adding an extra tablespoon at a time.
Protein Powder Recommendations
Whey Protein
I taste tested the major brands on the market to find the ones worth buying!
Casein Protein
I haven’t done a lot of taste testing with casein, but I’ve re-purchased this one!
Plant Protein
It’s tough to find a great tasting plant-based protein, but I found a few for you!
Shop for This Recipe
Recipe
Birthday Cake Protein Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix, (97 grams)
- 6 tbsp Dymatize Elite Vanilla Casein Protein Powder, (48 grams)
- 2 tbsp Cellucor Whipped Vanilla Whey Protein Powder, (16 grams)
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar, (64 grams)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened, (46 grams)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, (2 fl oz)
- 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles, (24 g)
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
Instructions
- Heat treat cake mix by placing in a bowl and microwaving for 30 seconds. Stir and set aside to cool.
- Using a hand mixer, stand mixer with paddle attachment, or fork, cream the butter and sugar.
- Add protein powders, cake mix, and almond extract, and almond milk in the bowl and mix until just combined. Fold in sprinkles, then serve.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 weeks or store in the freezer for up to 3 monhts.
Tips & Tricks
- You can use any brand of protein powder and cake mix, but I included the specific brands here since those were the ones used to calculate the nutrition info.
- Scan the barcode below or search for “Peanut Butter and Fitness Birthday Cake Protein Cookie Dough” to log this food in My Fitness Pal.
Nutrition Information
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