Fireworks Cookies

Prepare the cookies:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see tips below).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure you let your oven preheat for at least 1/2-hour before baking these or any other cookies.

Roll to desired thickness and cut into circles. If you don't have a circular cookie cutter, use a drinking glass or a small plastic tub. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just beginning to brown around the edges. (longer time for thicker cookies)

Gently remove cookies with a spatula and let them cool on wire racks.

Prepare the icing:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, meringue powder, and a scant 1/2 cup water on low speed. Beat until mixture is fluffy yet dense, 7 to 8 minutes.

To thin the icing for flooding (filling in areas with a thin layer of icing), stir in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time. Test the consistency by lifting a spoonful of icing and letting it drip back into the bowl; a ribbon should remain on the surface for 5 to 7 seconds.

Put 2/3 of the icing in one bowl and divide the rest between two separate bowls. To tint the icing red and blue, dip a toothpick or wooden skewer into food coloring, and gradually mix it in until the desired shade is reached. Place the colored icing into squeeze bottles (or use pastry bags with small, round tips).

Decorate the cookies:

Place white icing in a squeeze bottle (or use a pastry bag with a small, round tip). Edge the cookies with white by drawing a white icing line around the edge of the cookie with the squeeze bottle. Let them set for at least 10 minutes so that the edges are able to act as a barrier for the icing that you'll put in the middle. Flood the cookies with white icing- one at a time. Spoon white icing onto a cookie and use the spoon to gently edge the icing to the sides of the cookie. Immediately squeeze a dot of color into the center of the flooded cookie. Draw circles of color around the dot (alternating colors if you'd like). Drag a toothpick from the center of the cookie to the edge, wipe the toothpick with a paper towel, and repeat. With each cookie that you decorate, try something different. Drag the toothpick from the edge to the center. Alternate which way you drag. They'll all turn out different! Let the cookies dry on your counter-top until the icing hardens. It'll take a good 24 hours for them to harden completely.