I made my friend 30 cookies frosted with royal icing and finished them at around 8:30 last night. Now it is after 9:30 am - they are still not dry enough to package! She wants to put them in cellophane bags for some girls so I have no idea how I'm supposed to package them to give to her to take home - and plus when I attempted to put them in baggies and lay them on their side in a bag (for her to transport) some of them smudged!. The outside of the icing is hard but the middle is still soft to where with pressure it will crack and smash!! I am panicking - I told her they will be ready by 3 pm today. How do you guys give ppl decorated cookies (like 30 or more in quantity)? And how long does this stuff take to dry? I used the meringue pwder, powdered sugar, water, lemon juice recipe on here.

Any help at all please!

Thanks!

Try putting under a reading lamp or in a very, very low oven with the door open

I definately can't do the oven thing b/c I have a very curious 2.5 year old and she would be way to tempted...

But I take it that all it takes is to 'heat' it?

The amount of time it takes RI to dry depends on how thick you put on the icing. I use Antonia's cookie icing and it is usually ready to be stacked in 24 hours although I always like to wait 48 if I can. Not sure if there is much you can do to speed the drying time.

I've heard of people putting fumpaste or fondant in a closed oven with just the light on to speed the drying..... you could try it......

I was actually panicking about making them too far in advance b/c I didn't want to give her 'old, stale' cookies. But if you have to decorate it there needs to be ample drying time... so I was really confused. I guess those cookie bouquet places are selling us 2 day old cookies sometimes? I just always worry that it has to be the freshest...

So now I have no idea what to do.

Try using a fan on them. It works like a charm for me.

We have one of those on a stand and aim it directly on the cookies.

I put a table in a bedroom and close the door if I have little ones aound.

Thanks for all the help everyone! Hope I can get some good drying done in 5 hours!