Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until it is fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. You can do this in a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer. I personally prefer to use the stand mixer.

Once the butter and powdered sugar are creamed together add the eggs and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl.

Mix all of the dry cookie ingredients in a separate small bowl and whisk to mix everything together. Then add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.

Put half of the freshly made dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to 1/4 inch thick using a rolling pin.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Put the rolled dough including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. You want the dough to be cold.

Once the sugar cookie dough is chilled it is ready to cut using your fall shaped cookie cutters. After cutting all the cookies out, reroll the dough pieces and use the rest of it to cut out more cookies until you have no dough left.

Place cookies on a single layer with a little bit of space between them on a baking sheet and bake at 325° F for 10 -15 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool them on a cookie rack. Be sure the cookies are completely cooled before moving on to decorating them.

Combine the sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until well combined.

Stir in 2 tablespoons of the water.

Next, add a clear extract to make your frosting take on different flavors if you want to.

If the mixture is still crumbly add the rest of the water.

Mix on medium-low speed for 5 minutes.

Color icing with desired food colors by blending a drop of coloring into the icing. Gradually blend additional drops until you achieve the desired color.

Outline the cookies with the color of your choosing. Then thin out the frosting and flood the cookie and then add any small details to the cookies that you want to.