In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar are creamed together, about 2-3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, egg yolks, baking powder, almond extract, and salt. Mix on medium speed until combined.

Gradually add in the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Gather dough into a large ball, cover with wrap or transfer to an airtight container and let chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F

Generously dust a large surface with flour. Roll out the dough to ½” - ¼” thickness.

Using cookie cutters of choice, cut out the cookies. When you have cut all of the cookies, gather the remnants of dough, knead together, and re roll. Keep repeating this process until all of the dough is used.

Place the cookies on baking sheets, keeping at least 1” spacing between the cookies. Bake for 12-13 minutes until the edges just start to turn a light golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the icing sugar, meringue powder, ½ cup of water, and vanilla. Whisk on high speed for 6 minutes. The mixture will turn thick and almost double in size.

Pull up the whisk, the icing should drizzle down and flatten out almost immediately. If it doesn't flatten, you will need to add more water. Add the additional water 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the correct consistency.

At this point you can add your gel food colouring. If you want your icing all one colour, add a little bit of food colouring directly to the mixing bowl and whisk until the colour is fully combined, about 1 minute.

To make various colours; transfer the plain icing into smaller bowls and using a small hand whisk or a fork, add the gel coloring and whisk by hand until combined.

Transfer icing to icing bags and snip off a tiny part of the end. Remember, you can always cut a bigger hole, but you cant close up a hole that is too big!