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

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

Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.

Transfer dough to a flat work surface and press into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

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

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut into shapes using desired cookie cutters.

Place cut out cookies on prepared baking sheets and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are light golden.

Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring 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.

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.

Separate the icing into three bowls. Cover the bowls when you’re not using the icing so it doesn’t dry out.

Add a few drops of navy blue gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined. Add a few drops of the pink gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined. Add a few drops of purple gel food coloring to one of the bowls of icing and stir until well combined.

To make the marble design, scoop a couple spoonfuls of pink icing into a bowl. Drizzle some navy and purple icing on top of the pink icing, making sure not to overlap too much.

Dip a cookie into the bowl, pressing into the marbled icing. Remove, gently shaking off any excess icing. Repeat with the desired number of cookies, adding more icing as needed.

To pipe the icing onto the cookies, transfer the icings into piping bags. Pipe an outline around each cookie and then fill in using the desired color of icing.

Let the icing dry completely before adding the gold spray or gold paint flecks.

Once the icing is dry, spray with edible gold spray or dip a clean paintbrush into the edible gold paint and speckle the cookies with the paint.

Let dry before serving.