In a spacious mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Slowly add in your vanilla extract and mix well, then incorporate the flour in batches until a soft dough forms. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Flour your work surface and roll out the cookie dough to approximately ¼ inch thick. Using butterfly-shaped cookie cutters, gently cut out the shapes and place them onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

In a clean mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar with egg whites (or meringue powder) and a splash of water. Beat until stiff peaks form. Adjust a portion of the icing to a “15-second” consistency.

Outline the top wings of your butterfly cookies with black icing using a piping bag. Let dry for about 5 minutes, then flood the wings with pink icing. Use a needle tool to create patterns.

Repeat the outlining and flooding for the bottom wings using blue icing, creating unique patterns.

Pipe small dots of white icing into the corners of the black icing for finishing touches. Let cookies dry for at least 1 hour until fully set.

For the cookie bodies, pipe black icing down the center and dip into black sanding sugar while wet. Allow to dry completely before storing.