Patriotic Meringue Cookies to celebrate Independence Day! This red, white and blue dessert makes a festive addition to your 4th of July celebrations. Melt in your mouth cookies bursting with fun flavors!
We love any excuse to make treats that celebrate independence. Red, White and Blue Pretzels are another favorite to try this year! Or give our festive white chocolate covered strawberries a try!
Table of Contents
What are Meringue Cookies?
Meringue Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth treats made with whipped egg whites and sugar. They’re so easy to make–and EAT!
You can dress them up with all kinds of fun colors and mix in your favorite flavors. We love Minty Meringue Cookies at Christmas and these Pumpkin Spice Meringue Cookies in the fall.
Red, white and blue Fourth of July Meringue Cookies are an annual summertime tradition! Eye popping color and a classic sweet flavor make these a must try.
You can even make them days in advance! How cool is that?
Looking for more ideas? Check out our list of 4th of July desserts! And don’t forget to try our Red White and Blue Cupcakes too!
Ingredient Notes
Very few ingredients are needed to make meringue cookies! Perfect when you’re low on butter and flour!
- Egg whites. Separate the whites from the yolk and let them come to room temperature. Save the egg yolks for homemade lemon curd!
- JELL-O mix. We use cherry and berry blue gelatin powder for flavor and added in some gel food coloring to achieve these fantastic colors. You could skip the gelatin, just use the lemon extract and food coloring too.
- Caster sugar. If you can’t find caster sugar, process granulated sugar in a food processor until fine. Sometimes you’ll find it labeled as “superfine” sugar. But it’s NOT powdered sugar.
- Vinegar. Vinegar allows the egg whites to form a more stable foam!
- Cornstarch. Adding cornstarch to meringue helps the cookie stay soft in the center with an outer crunch!
Easy Instructions
STEP 1: Beat egg whites
Add egg whites to a clean mixing bowl. Beat until foamy, then add the vinegar and cornstarch. When soft peaks form, add the sugar a little at a time.
Beat vigorously until stiff peaks form. This takes about 5 minutes.
STEP 2. Add the colors.
Divide the meringue equally into three separate bowls. To one bowl, beat in red JELL-O with red gel food coloring. To the second, beat in the blue JELL-O with blue gel food coloring.
Add lemon extract to the third bowl. Keeping this bowl of meringue white.
STEP 3. Bake
Pipe the meringues onto a parchment lined baking sheet using frosting bags.
Bake for 90 minutes at 200 degrees F. Turn off the oven and let the meringue sit in the oven for at least 6 hours to harden.
PRO TIP: I make them in the evening and let them sit in the oven overnight.
Tips and Tricks
- Make overnight. I usually bake the meringues in the evening then leave them to harden overnight. The next day you’ll wake up to ready-to-eat meringue cookies!
- Storing. Transfer hardened 4th of July Meringue Cookies to an airtight container or ziploc bag. Store for up to 1 week.
- Divide egg whites carefully. Meringue recipes are a time to be extra precise when separating egg whites from the yolks. Even a tiny bit of yolk will make it more difficult to whip the meringue into stiff peaks.
- Use a clean, dry metal bowl. Make sure your bowl is completely DRY before adding the ingredients!
- Use an oven thermometer. Most home ovens do not give accurate temperature readings. To ensure the meringues bake to the perfect consistency, buy an oven thermometer to check that the temperature is a perfect 200 F.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, we chose cherry and berry blue to create 4th of July Meringue Cookies. However, you can make these with any instant gelatin powder you like for different colors!
Meringue Cookies tend to crack when the oven is too hot. Double check your temperature with an oven thermometer before baking.
I use a frosting bag fitted with the star shaped tip. Pipe the meringue onto the baking sheet, pulling it upward at the end to form the pretty pointed tip.
More Holiday Recipes
- Apple Crumble
- Chocolate Meringue Cookies
- Potato Salad
- Coleslaw Recipe
- Banana Pudding
- Cream Puff Cake
- Red White and Blue Krispie Treats
4th of July Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon corn starch
- 1 cup sugar I like to use caster sugar, see note
- 1 Tablespoon cherry Jello mix powder
- 1 Tablespoon berry blue Jello mix (powder
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- Red and Blue gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- In mixing bowl (that is completely clean and DRY), beat egg whites until foamy (about 30 seconds). Add vinegar and corn starch and continue to beat for another minute until soft peaks form. In a slow stream, add sugar. Beat for about 4-5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Divide mixture into thirds. Beat in red gelatin and red food coloring to one third, blue jello and blue food coloring to second, and lemon extract to third. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill pastry bags with meringue (one color in each bag) and pipe using a star tip.
- Place baking sheets in 200 degree oven for 90 minutes. Turn oven off and leave meringues in oven for 6 hours, or overnight, to harden.
Notes
- Make overnight. I usually bake the meringues in the evening then leave them to harden overnight. The next day you’ll wake up to ready-to-eat meringue cookies!
- Storing. Transfer hardened 4th of July Meringue Cookies to an airtight container or ziploc bag. Store for up to 1 week.
- Divide egg whites carefully. Meringue recipes are a time to be extra precise when separating egg whites from the yolks. Even a tiny bit of yolk will make it more difficult to whip the meringue into stiff peaks.
- Use a clean, dry metal bowl. Make sure your bowl is completely DRY before adding the ingredients!
- Use an oven thermometer. Most home ovens do not give accurate temperature readings. To ensure the meringues bake to the perfect consistency, buy an oven thermometer to check that the temperature is a perfect 200 F.
- JELL-O mix. We use cherry and berry blue gelatin powder for flavor and added in some gel food coloring to achieve these fantastic colors. You could skip the gelatin, just use the lemon extract and food coloring too.
- Food Coloring. Be sure to use a gel food coloring, not liquid. Add enough to achieve desired color.
- Caster sugar. If you can’t find caster sugar, process granulated sugar in a food processor until fine. Sometimes you’ll find it labeled as "superfine" sugar. But it’s NOT powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Homemade meringue cookies are even better in red, white and blue. Bring these along when you go watch the fireworks this Fourth of July!
Hi dear ,
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I would just like to know if you used retailer egg whites (like separated egg whites from regular eggs) or you used pasteurised egg whites. Because where I live I can’t find pasteurised eggs. We get regular egg box and I am not sure if they eat pasteurised because the box does not say anything and I am new into baking so I wanted to make sure I can use regular eggs.
Thanks
I wouldn’t use already separated eggs. But you can use regular eggs and separate the whites yourself. These cookies are baked so they do not have to be pasteurized.
What pretty cookies!! Love the bright, bold colors!! We love these cookies!
How fun & festive!! They are like soft pillows that melt in your mouth!
Really yummy, and super cute too. I followed your tip to bake overnight and they came out perfect.
I’ve made these a few times and LOVE them…so simple but so delicious! I have a friend who requests them all the time ???? I love making them with all different flavors of jello! My one question for you-do you use gel coloring? I have just used the jello but the colors are much more pale than yours. Â Thanks!
I’ve been trying to make it for the past 2 hours and it’s not working right! It stays liquidy ????
My first thought is maybe it’s too humid in your home? Or, there may have been moisture in your bowl to start? Having made these numerous times, you have to make sure the bowl is clean AND dry, and that it’s not a humid day.
I love meringue cookies but I live in Florida where it is very humid so I am a bit nervous about trying to make them. Do you have any tips for meringue in humidity?
My 6-year-old and I will be making these in the morning. I’ve only made meringues once before, and that was because I made creme brulee and didn’t want the egg whites to go to waste! I can’t wait to try these tomorrow. I happen to have coconut extract on hand, so I’m using that in the white ones instead of lemon. I guess I will also have to make creme brulee now that I will have yolks that will need to be used up! 🙂
Lemon curd (I have a recipe on the blog) is another great use for those yolks! Hope your cookies turned out good, coconut sounds yummy!
Two questions: How long will they last if sealed in a freezer ziplc? And, doesn’t it make a difference if the flavors made with jello have all the added sugar, vs the ones made with extract (and no added sugar)? Thanks!
Just made these and shared them on Cookie Time Tuesday. They were very good. Thank you so much for the recipe.
www.itsybitsypaperblog.com
Glad you enjoyed them!!! Thanks for sharing.
What else could I flavor/color these with. I don’t do gelatin. Would koolaid packets work? Thanks!
Koolaid would work great Jennifer. Or you could just use various extracts (lemon, orange, etc). Gel food coloring works best vs the drop variety. Hope this helps!
Meringues are just about my favorite things….these are adorable. I may not get to them for the 4th but I definitely see a meringue attempt in my future. Thanks for posting.
Thanks so much for sharing with us at Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday. We will be featuring your recipe tomorrow evening on the blog at 6pm EST. Please be sure to stop back in and grab our Featured at Someday Crafts button for your blog. Thanks for the inspiration!