Easy Mini King Cake Bites are a quick treat to celebrate Mardi Gras. Made with a few convenience items, you can have them ready in no time!
Pin Easy Mini King Cake Bites to make them later.
Mardi Gras is upon us. A King Cake is a well-known tradition. Mardi Gras is the culmination of the season of carnival that begins on Epiphany and ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.
Why You’ll Love these King Cake Bites
- They are super easy to make.
- Kids can easily get in on the fun of making these mini King Cake Bites.
- Start with refrigerated crescent rolls for an inexpensive treat.
- Serve them for breakfast or dessert.
- Easily mix up the sanding sugars for other occasions. Use red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Hanukkah, or red, white, and blue for July 4th.
What is a king cake?
Depending on where you live, King Cake has different versions. Most familiar to us in the United States is a sweet twisted cinnamon roll-style dough topped with icing or sugar. Mardi Gras is fun and festive and these individual King Cakes are a nice addition to any celebration.
These mini King cakes are bite-size treats packed with cinnamon sugar then drizzled with a sweet glaze and topped with decorator sugars in the traditional colors of Mardi Gras – purple, green, and gold.
They will disappear quickly so you may want to double the recipe, which is easy to do since this recipe starts with refrigerated crescent rolls. Enjoy these for breakfast or dessert.
I usually always have cinnamon sugar in a shaker in my pantry for my kids to use on toast or bagels. It’s easy to make. I mix three tablespoons of sugar with one teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
Check out my fun mini version of Mardi Gras Cupcake too.
More food for Mardi Gras
If you want to serve my mini King Cakes as part of a larger Mardi Gras celebration, here are some recipes straight out of NOLA.
- Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice – This Red Beans and Rice Stew is creamy, smoky, spicy, and satisfying. It will take you on a mini vacation to Louisiana.
- Cajun Gumbo – A hearty stew made with shrimp or chicken and okra and ready in under an hour.
- Muffuletta Sandwich – A hearty sandwich made with cheeses, Italian meats, vegetables, and a tasty mozzarella spread.
- Shrimp Dirty Rice – Shrimp dirty rice is a version of the traditional Creole dirty rice dish, made with shrimp, Andouille sausage, and aromatics.
Easy Mini King Cake Bites
King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition. This mini version is a fun treat.
Ingredients
- 1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls
- 6 teaspoons cinnamon sugar
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
For glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Purple, green and yellow decorating sugars
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray mini muffin pans (you will need 2) with baking cooking spray. Set aside.
- Unroll crescent rolls and place on cutting board. Separate at vertical perforations, pinching the diagonal perforations together well. You should have 4 rectangles. Sprinkle each rectangle evenly with about 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon sugar and 1 tablespoon of the pecans, if using. Starting at long end roll up jelly roll style pinching seam well. Repeat with each rectangle. Cut into 28 total pieces.
- Place 2 pieces in each mini muffin cup. Snuggle them in together. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 - 12 minutes, until golden. Remove pans to cooling rack. Cool completely in pan. Remove when cool.
- To make glaze:
- Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl until drizzling consistency. Swirl glaze covering tops of each mini cake. Do about half and then sprinkle those with purple, green and yellow decorator sugars. Repeat with remaining.
Shashi at SavorySpin
Monday 4th of March 2019
So love this twist on king cake - these bites look like so much fun to make and enjoy. :)
Shashi at SavorySpin
Monday 4th of March 2019
So love this twist on king cake - these bites look like so much fun to make and enjoy :)
Dannii
Monday 4th of March 2019
I ate so many of these when I was in New Orleans. I am definitely going to have to try making them myself!
Veena Azmanov
Monday 4th of March 2019
Love the flavor of cinnamon and nuttiness of the Pecans. These cute little King Cake Bites look so very special and colorful.
Jane
Monday 4th of March 2019
These are so adorable! I love the Mardi Gras colours, just perfect :)