I need some help. I made my RI using the Cookie Craft recipe. Instead of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, I used 1 tsp. of almond extract. Because of this, the flood icing was too thick to flood with, so I tried thinning it out with water. I don't know how many tablespoons of water I used, but the icing was still thick (though it did come out of the squeeze bottles okay, and filled in the spaces quite nicely.) It is 24 hours later and the cookies are still tacky to the touch. I need to deliver them tomorrow and I have no idea what to do to get them to dry! Help please?

you tried the fridge?

Doh! No, I didn't even think about that! Did I mention I'm blonde? I'll give it a try right now. Thank you!

Just a random thought - - -

Where did you let them dry? I have been learning about these cookies for about a year now. I've always let them set out on the counter or just covered them with an inverted cookie sheet. They were always fine the next day.

But, for some odd reason, two weeks ago I decided to put them in one of those huge under the bed rubbermaid containers, with a lid. It wasn't airtight but it didn't matter, it kept them soft and the icing did not set up all the way. And, yup, I got smeared icing when I bagged them.

What a bummer! I knew better than to store them in that container and did it anyway! Hope it works out!

I usually leave them out on the counter on drying racks, with one of those mesh food tents people use at picnics over them. Alas, putting them in the fridge this time did not work. They are still tacky to the touch. I also noticed that the one cookie I've been touching to test now has pockmarks where I touched it; they weren't there when I touched it but seem to have formed after. *sigh* I think I'm going to have to toss them and won't be able to fill my order for today. Crapola.

Over-mixing the RI will create that tacky to the touch. I found out the hard way once. Just mix until combined, don't whip it for the 5 minutes usually recommended on the recipes.

Grease in the icing can cause major problems. I have had to remake entire orders because of it - it causes stickiness that won't dry. It sounds to me more like that's the problem rather than your almond extract.

It's a good policy to wipe everything down with vinegar before mixing the icing. I put a big slosh of vinegar in my mixer bowl and drop in everything that will touch the icing - tips, spoons etc, then use that vinegar to wipe down the mixer bowl, the beater and the little colour-mixing bowls (which are stainless steel and only used for RI).

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I just couldn't figure out what I did wrong so now I will keep your suggestions and advice in mind.