Santa’s Stuffed Belly Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, and cream until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract and eggs.
In another bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the cream mixture.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces, shape into disks, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until firm for 2 hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough into ¼-inch thickness.
Cut with a round cutter, flouring as needed.
Cut the center out of three-fifths of the cookies to create a window shape.
Place the window and solid cookies 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.
Bake until the edges are firm, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.
For the royal icing, mix confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and water.
Beat on low speed, then increase to high speed until peaks form for about 5 minutes.
Tint the icing with gray, white, black, and red food coloring.
Keep unused icing covered.
If needed, beat on high speed to achieve a good texture.
Frost half of the solid cookies with red icing and pipe on belts, buckles, and trim using a pastry bag.
Pipe white icing around the edges of window cookies and remaining solid cookies.
On each solid cookie, place a window cookie on top, filling it with M&M’s.
Top with a red cookie.
Repeat the process with the remaining cookies.
Allow the frosting to firm and dry at room temperature for several hours.