we made a 65-calorie snack that is not a protein bar.
the snack shelf has two options
there is a gap on the snack shelf and most people have just stopped noticing it.
on one side you have the protein bar. it works, it travels, and it is usually 200 to 250 calories of dense chew. that is not a snack, that is a small meal, and if you eat one at 3pm you are not especially hungry at 6pm. sometimes that is exactly what you want. often it is not.
on the other side you have the things that are genuinely light, which are mostly things like rice cakes and fruit. they are fine. they also do almost nothing for you an hour later, because there is no protein in them to speak of.
what is missing is the middle. something small enough that it does not interfere with dinner, with enough protein that it is not just air, and sweet enough that it actually satisfies the craving you had rather than negotiating with it.
so we made a meringue
cloud bites are meringue. little clouds that crackle when you bite them and then melt.
meringue is a strange thing to arrive at until you look at what it is made of, and then it is obvious. meringue is mostly whipped egg white and sweetener with air folded through it. egg white is close to pure protein. air weighs nothing. so you get a snack where the volume in your hand is much larger than the number attached to it.
one serving is 65 calories with 5g of protein. there are 5 servings in a bag and it starts at $3.99. it is vegetarian, and because it is built on egg white it does contain eggs, along with dairy.
it is also our first pantry snack, which is a real departure for us. everything else we make lives in your fridge and has a week on it. this one sits in a cupboard or a bag or a desk drawer, which means it is there at the moment you actually get hungry rather than the moment you happen to be standing in your kitchen.
the part most brands skip: sugar alcohols
cloud bites have no added sugar and 0g of total sugars. the sweetness comes from 20g of sugar alcohol per serving.
here is what that actually means, because "0g sugar" on a package is the kind of claim that deserves an explanation rather than a badge.
sugar alcohols are sweeteners your body only partly absorbs. they taste sweet on the way in, but a good portion passes through without being processed the way sugar is. that is why they can be listed separately from sugars on a nutrition panel, and it is why the net carbs on this bag come out at 2g even though total carbohydrate reads 22g. total carbs minus the fiber and the sugar alcohol is where that number comes from.
now the honest part. because your body does not fully absorb them, a large amount of sugar alcohol in one sitting can cause gas or an unhappy stomach in some people. 20g per serving is a meaningful amount. if you have not eaten much of this kind of sweetener before, have one serving and see how you get on before you work through the bag in an afternoon.
we would rather tell you that up front than have you find out on your own and assume something was wrong with the food. nothing is wrong with the food. it is just how these sweeteners work.
what it is good for
the 3pm one. the drive home when dinner is still an hour out and the drive-through is right there. the evening where you have eaten well all day and you want something sweet without turning it into a whole decision.
it is also a decent thing to keep in a gym bag or a glovebox, which is not true of anything else we make. a swole roll is a wonderful thing but it is not living in your car.
we are not going to tell you it replaces a meal. it does not. it is 65 calories. it is a snack that behaves like a snack, which turns out to be surprisingly hard to buy.
where it sits in the bakery
we are a wellness kitchen and bakery in minneapolis, and the whole idea is that every bake has a job rather than being sweet for its own sake.
the swole roll is the protein one, 22g in a real brioche cinnamon roll. cinnalite is the lighter, sugar-free cut at 140 calories. the cloud nine roll is vegan and made without any of the nine major allergens, for the person who normally cannot have anything in the case. cloud bites are the pantry one.
you can see the whole line on the bakery page, and cloud bites have their own product page with the full nutrition panel and ingredient list, which is printed on every bag as well.
the short version
65 calories, 5g of protein, 2g of net carbs, 5 servings in a bag, from $3.99. meringue, so it is light in a way a bar cannot be. sweetened with sugar alcohol rather than sugar, which is worth easing into if that is new to you. contains eggs and dairy, made in a kitchen that also handles nuts, wheat and soy.
it is the snack for the gap between meals that you did not really want to fill with a meal.
frequently asked
What are cloud bites?
Cloud bites are little meringue clouds that crackle and then melt on your tongue. One serving is 65 calories with 5g of protein, 22g of total carbohydrate, 1g of fiber and 2g of net carbs. There are 5 servings in a bag and they start at $3.99. They are vegetarian, and they contain eggs and dairy.
How many calories are in cloud bites?
65 calories per serving, with 5 servings in a bag. That is low enough that the snack does not have to compete with a meal, which is the whole reason it exists.
Do cloud bites have sugar in them?
No added sugar and 0g of total sugars. The sweetness comes from 20g of sugar alcohol per serving instead. Sugar alcohols are sweeteners that the body only partly absorbs, which is why they add sweetness without the sugar count.
Are sugar alcohols bad for you?
They are not harmful, but they are worth knowing about. Because the body only partly absorbs them, a large amount in one sitting can cause gas or stomach upset in some people. 20g per serving is a meaningful amount, so if you have not had much sugar alcohol before, start with one serving rather than the bag and see how you feel.
What are net carbs?
Net carbs are total carbohydrate minus the parts the body does not fully absorb, which is usually fiber and sugar alcohols. Cloud bites list 22g of total carbohydrate, 1g of fiber and 20g of sugar alcohol, which is where the 2g of net carbs comes from.
Do cloud bites contain allergens?
They contain eggs and dairy. Everything is made in a kitchen that also handles nuts, dairy, eggs, wheat and soy, so they are not suitable if you need a facility free of those.
tandoco is a wellness kitchen and bakery in minneapolis. we cook food and we are not dietitians or doctors, so treat this as one kitchen's explanation rather than clinical advice.