• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line your baking sheets with parchment and set aside
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and butter.  Cream until smooth.
• Add in the vanilla and egg.  Mix well.
• Switch the mixer attachment to the paddle and add in the flour.  Mix until the dough balls together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  If your mixer is struggling, you can knead the dough by hand. 
• Using a lightly floured work surface, roll the cookie dough out until it’s about ½ - ⅝ of an inch thick. 
• Using a round cookie cutter, cut out cookie dough. Save and reroll the scrapes until the dough is too small to continue.
• Carefully transfer your cut out dough to the parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.  Watch closely - over baking will cause hard cookies.  Cookies are done when the edges are set and the center is no longer shiny. 
• Allow to cool before decorating. 

For the soft bite icing

• In the bowl of the stand mixer, combine the 2 c powdered sugar, meringue powder and 1 t vanilla.  Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for about 30 seconds. 
• Add in 3 teaspoons worth of water as the mixer is going.  Allow to mix until combined. 
• Increase the speed to medium for another 2-3 minutes. The icing will be very stiff.  Transfer to another bowl and cover with a damp paper towel.
• Using the same mixing bowl, combine the other 2 cups of powdered sugar, corn syrup, 2 tablespoons of water and the other teaspoon of vanilla.  Mix on low speed until combined with the whisk attachment.
• Combine the two icing mixtures into one bowl and whisk until smooth.  Add in additional water if needed to thin the mixture.   Using a spatula, scoop a bit of icing up and allow it to drop back into the bowl.  The icing should re-incorporate back into itself and settle within about a 12-15 second count. 
• Transfer half of the white icing to a piping bag.
• Transfer the rest of the icing to four separate bowls and tint each with the black, red, blue and green food coloring.
• Transfer the tinted icing to piping bags.

To decorate cookies

• When ready to decorate, snip a tiny bit off the tip of the piping bag.  You can always cut the hole bigger if the icing is not flowing as quickly as you’d like. 
• Starting with the white icing, pipe a large donut shape, leaving the center empty.
• Pipe another round of a colored icing for the iris of the eye - blue, red or green.
• Immediately pipe the black in the center of the eyeball.
• Immediately pipe two small white dots for the reflection off the eye in the corner of the pupil and iris.
• Repeat with the remaining cookies.