In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Gradually add in the flour mixture, beating on low speed, until combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

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

Roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a 2 ½ inch round cookie cutter.

Place cut out cookies onto prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for 15 minutes. This helps the cookies retain their shape.

Bake the cookies for 8-15 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.

Add ¼ cup of warm water and beat on low speed until well combined. Beat on high speed until glossy and the icing holds stiff peaks.

Add a few drops of the gold gel food coloring, beating until the color is fully incorporated. Then, stir in additional warm water, a tablespoon at a time, until icing creates loose ribbons when drizzled with a spoon. Aim to have the icing ribbons disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds of being picked up with the spoon.

Transfer icing into a piping bag. When you’re ready to decorate the cookies, cut a small portion of the tip of the bag off.

Pipe a circle of icing around the perimeter of the cookie. Then, fill the circle in with icing by piping lines of icing around the cookie until it is completely covered. If needed, use a cookie pick to adjust the icing. Repeat with all cookies.

Let the icing set completely, about 1-2 hours. Place the piping bag into a ziplock bag or airtight container so that the icing doesn’t dry out.

Once the icing has set, pipe the Medal of the Gods design onto the cookies. To do this, you’ll need to make two swirls at the top of the cookie for the clouds. Then, you’ll need to pipe a lightning bolt coming down from the clouds. If you’re comfortable, you can pipe this freehand, but you can also use a yellow edible food marker to lightly draw the pattern onto the icing and then pipe over the marker.

Let the icing set completely, about 1 hour.

Use a clean, never been used with paint, paintbrush to gently apply some gold shimmer dust to each cookie.