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Celebrate the season of Mardi Gras with these festive Mardi Gras Meringues. With a crisp outer shell and slightly chewy center, these delicate cookies will melt in your mouth. Decorated with swirls of the Mardi Gras colors, these simple treats will bring a bit of the Fat Tuesday fun into your own home.


Ingredient Notes
See recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Egg whites
- Cream of tartar
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Food coloring

How To Make This Recipe
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy.
- Add the sugar very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time while still beating.
- Add the vanilla extract and continue beating until the meringue is shiny.
- Evenly divide the meringue into 3 medium-sized bowls. Add 2-3 drops of purple food coloring to one bowl, 2-3 drops of green coloring to the second bowl and 2-3 drops of yellow coloring to the third bowl. Take a toothpick or the tip of a sharp knife and gently swirl the color into the meringue. You mustn’t STIR.
- Meringues may be dropped by the tablespoonful onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets, or piped onto the sheets using a pastry bag, leaving a 1-inch space between each cookie.
- Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off.
- Leave the cookies undisturbed in the oven for at least 2 hours.
Looking to make just a few meringues? You’ll love this small batch meringue cookies recipe.
Expert Tips
- Be careful not to leave any of the egg yolk with the egg white.This will interfere with the egg whites foaming.
- If your egg whites have been kept in the refrigerator, bring them to room temperature. Warmer eggs whip faster than cold eggs
- Use glass, copper or stainless steel bowls when making meringues. Plastic bowls can sometimes harbor traces of grease which will prevent the egg whites from getting stiff.
- Use super-fine sugar when making meringues because it dissolves faster than regular sugar and gradually add the sugar, a tiny bit at a time while beating continuously.
- Try not to over-whip the egg whites. The meringue should be shiny and glossy so stop whipping when stiff peaks form.
- If possible, try to avoid making meringues on humid or rainy days. This could affect how the meringue cookies turn out. If necessary, you might need to increase the baking time.

Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this meringue cookie recipe, you might consider using them in any of these recipes.
- Egg yolk: Eggnog, Apple Scones, Mini Irish Soda Bread, Mini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
- Cream of tartar: Lemon Drop Meringues, Chocolate Mousse Pie with Biscoff Crust, Small Batch Snickerdoodles
- Sugar: Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars, Small Batch Donut Holes, Small Batch Whipped Cream
- Vanilla: Small Batch Apple Butter, Mini Spice Cake, Mini Devil’s Food Cake
If you’re looking for a Small Batch of Meringue Cookies, you can find that recipe as well as many other single serving recipes by visiting our One Dish Kitchen site.
Enjoy!
Mardi Gras Meringues

Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Purple, green and yellow food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy.
- Add the sugar very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time while still beating.
- Add the vanilla extract and continue beating until the meringue is shiny.
- Evenly divide the meringue into 3 medium-sized bowls. Add 2-3 drops of purple food coloring to one bowl, 2-3 drops of green coloring to the second bowl and 2-3 drops of yellow coloring to the third bowl. Take a toothpick or the tip of a sharp knife and gently swirl the color into the meringue. It is very important that you DO NOT STIR.
- Meringues may be dropped by the tablespoonful onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets, or piped onto the sheets using a pastry bag, leaving a 1-inch space between each cookie.
- Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off.
- Leave the cookies undisturbed in the oven for at least 2 hours.



I love the look of your Mardi Gras meringues. The colors are great!
These are so festive and I love the color palette here! Beautiful meringues, Joanie. I still haven’t made it to New Orleans yet but it’s on my bucket list and every time you mention it I am reminded that I must visit!!!
I love meringues. They are so light and crunchy. Love the colors used here!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
How fun! I love the colors of these!
LOVE!! I’ve never made meringue before, but I’m definitely willing to give it a try. I’ll have to use your recipe when i do!
OMG – these look so pretty n colorful. I can so see myself stuffing my face with them 😉 and what an easy recipe too!
I just love meringues! And the color on these is perfect!
These are so beautiful and festive! For some reason I can never get meringues to turn out, they are my culinary nemesis 🙂 , but yours look perfect!
Thank you so much, Sara. We’ve all got our recipes that give us fits 🙂 I’ve found that for my meringues to turn out perfect, there has to be absolutely no humidity in the air (which can sometimes be difficult living in southeast Texas). Also, there can’t be any egg yolk in the egg whites or the meringues won’t foam and whip properly. I hope you give them a try again, they’re lovely to serve and so delicious too.
Love a simple Mardi Gras recipe. All the traditional dishes are so labor intensive. Very festive!
Thank you, Kiano. These are so easy to make.
I was JUST in New Orleans two weeks ago – although we were shy of Mardi Gras, the city was already starting to ‘get dressed up’ for the event… I should also mention we got caught in a David Bowie Tribute Parade! What an amazing city to visit. SO much to experience… I miss it already! Your meringues look so amazing! and I love the colours that you incorporated! I agree the swirl makes an awesome tough rather then solid colours!
Kaitie, I saw pictures of the David Bowie parade, that was so awesome. New Orleans doesn’t need a special occasion to throw a party or parade, it’s such a special place.