Process butter, brown and granulated sugars together in a food processor until well blended. Add egg yolks and vanilla and process until mixture is glossy looking.

Add sea salt, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, baking powder and 2 ¼ cups flour and pulse just until dough comes together.

Scrape dough onto a work surface and knead until smooth. Divide into two balls and pat into disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with one dough disk at a time, roll out on floured surface to about ¼” thick. Cut out shaped cookies and place about 1” apart on baking sheets. Repeat until all scraps are used. Chill cookies 5-8 minutes before baking. This helps them hold their shapes.

Bake cookies until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

For Royal Icing place confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder in a bowl and add water by tablespoons, stirring as you add, until you have a thin somewhat transparent icing. Store in a container until ready to use. This will keep for weeks chilled. Just add a bit of water to remix if need be.

To decorate cookies gather your decorative sanding sugars. Using a small pastry brush lightly coat each cookie with royal icing and sprinkle generously over cookie with decorative sanding sugars. The icing will dry clear and the sugars will sparkle! Play, have fun and share.