Bakery Barn is the only company in the world to utilize HEAT in the production of high protein energy bars.  All other high protein energy bars are manufactured on technologically inferior “Cold Form Extrusion” or “Cold Slab-and-Slit” equipment which has remained relatively unchanged for the past 25 years.  A comparison is simply unfair; our baked products have a far superior taste, softer texture, and much better shelf stability.  Microwave one of our “Baked & Decorated” bars for 8 seconds and it’s like it just came right out of Grandma’s oven.  We don’t recommend you try this with a cold processed bar, but if you do, make sure you have a spoon available.    

The Cold Form Extrusion Process yields bars with taste, texture, and shelf stability challenges.  The protein portion of a cold form extruded bar is simply an agglomeration of proteins, sugar alcohols, high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, and oils.  This mixture yields a protein “nougat” or “putty” with a nauseating taste and gummy texture.  During the manufacturing process, the protein putty is mixed, dumped into a manifold, extruded through a small rectangular die under high pressure, and cut to length.  Sometimes this protein putty is co-extruded with a very thin layer of caramel, but it is always covered with an even thinner layer of flavored coating in an attempt to hide its appearance and awful taste.  The biggest problem facing bars manufactured on cold form extrusion equipment is that they get extremely hard and chewy approximately 45 days after they are produced.    

The Cold Slab-and-Slit Process also yields bars with taste, texture, and shelf stability challenges.  The protein portion of a cold slab-and-slit bar is typically a mixture of soy crisps and high fructose corn syrup.  This dry crunchy material is placed under large rollers and pressed into a sheet that is then slit into rows and cut to length.  This crunchy soy protein material yields bars with an extremely dry mouth feel.  To mask the “soy burn” and extremely dry texture, these bars are typically covered with a thin layer of flavored coating.  These bars also get very hard within 45 days of being produced.  Make sure you have a bottle of water available if you choose to brave one of these bars, you’ll need it.    

Bakery Barn’s Proprietary Baking Process enables us to produce great tasting, high protein, soft batch energy bars the same way Grandma made cookies.  We cream the sugars and fats; mix in pasteurized egg , mix in vanilla and other assorted flavors, and then slowly mix in the dry materials and chips.  We then portion, bake, decorate, cool, and pack each bar.  It’s the same process Grandma used in her kitchen (except Grandma didn’t have a high speed packaging machine).