Step 1

In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and spices until combined.

Step 2

With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.

Step 3

Add the vanilla and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.

Step 4

Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.

Step 5

Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Step 6

Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

Step 7

On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out to an even thickness between 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick.

Step 8

Use any size/shape cookie cutters to cut as many cookies as you can, placing the cut cookies 2 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can. Using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, you should get around 3 dozen cookies.

Step 9

Place the baking sheets with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don't spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.

Step 10

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.

Step 11

Bake one pan of cookies at a time, keeping the other pan refrigerated until needed. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 11 1/2 - 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges.

Step 12

Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. Sugar cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care.

Step 13

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

Step 14

Add the vanilla and water, and whisk until smooth.

Step 15

To ice the cookies, hold a cookie by its edges and dip the top of the cookie in the icing. Lightly shake off the excess icing, then set it right side up to dry.

Step 16

For embossed cookies (like the turkey, leaves and acorns in the photographs), just very lightly dip them so the icing only catches on the raised portion of the design, but doesn't get into the cracks and grooves. This way, the design will be beautifully highlighted by the icing.

Step 17

Let the icing set and dry for about an hour. If you like, lightly sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon sugar for a sparkly finish.