In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it’s lightened in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg, vanilla and vanilla bean and mix well. Scrape the bowl down as needed.
Add the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour is incorporated and the dough comes together.
Divide the dough into 2 halves and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the discs for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
Lightly sprinkle your surface with flour. Once chilled, use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out each dough disc into a ¼ inch thick circle. Use more flour as needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into your desired shapes and re-roll the scraps into more ¼ inch thick discs to cut more cookies out until no scraps are remaining.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes until just starting to turn light golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.