Royal Icing Not Drying

I have this same problem. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the ingredients in each individual extract. I've never used almond emulsion but I use pure almond extract and it dries nicer than any other flavor I've tried. I like to use raspberry extract because it tastes absolutely amazing but it won't dry without a dehydrator and even then it's a crap shoot sometimes. I was thinking about posting a similar question earlier but I got distracted by searching for airbrush stuff . It seems like extracts that have propylene glycol have drying issues. That's what I've noticed at least. Whatever that ingredient is it seems to possibly cause the royal icing to separate faster and not dry properly. Anybody else have any ideas? I'd love to hear some theories on this.

Also, I just checked my almond emulsion and it does contain propylene glycol. This could be the culprit!

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually finding that the opposite is working for me. The clear Vanilla that I use contains Propylene Glycol and it dries perfect. In fact I flooded a cookie with vanilla just a few hours ago and it has already hardened. The Almond emulsion does not contain the propylene glycol and that is what is not drying : (  I know now that I will never use this Almond Emulsion for RI again. Also I have a dehydrator but I am scared to use it..I feel like it wil liquify the RI and run right off my cookie. Anyone with ideas on how to quickly dry? Again, I've had them under a fan for hours and hour. I've got to bag them in a few days. I really hope they dry in time.

Interesting, I guess my theory is wrong then! I really wonder what it is that is causing this issue. My only suggestion is to let them dry under the fan overnight and if they aren't dry by morning you might want to start over using your original RI recipe :/ Good luck! Let me know how it works out!

Well I ended up scrapping my then second batch of Almond cookies. I couldn't take a chance in them not drying another day. It's a good thing I did. I checked one and poked at the icing and it was still so moist and wet there was no way it would have dried. I had much better luck with my 3rd try. This time I used Lorann's Almond Emulsion and it dried perfectly. There are several differences in the ingredients from this and the Magic Line but the one I focused on was the Propylene G..since Michelle you mentioned it. The Lorann's contains it while the Magic Line does not. From now on I will use the Magic Line for the cookie only, not for RI and I will only use the Lorann's brand in my RI. Looks like I will have my order complete and ready. Whew, I can breathe again!

Hmmm . . . Any oil-based flavoring or one with glucose or other invert sugars in it could delay drying time. So could too little meringue powder in your base icing.

Interesting - good to know! I've only ever used LorAnn's emulsions and now know never to switch! thanks...

Thank you Julia.. I have heard that about royal icing and oils and I have always stayed away from it but I guess because the word OIL is not listed specifically in the ingredients as others I assumed it was okay to use. I think I will do a little web research on the ingredients list on the Magic Line to see if any are truly an oil base and or contain glucose/sugars as you mentioned.

I've had this issue before too and the problem turned out to be the oil in my almond extract. Since I switched to LorAnn's brand, I never have a problem. I love LorAnn flavorings and use them almost exclusively now. There's so many flavor options too. I just made some raspberry royal icing with chocolate sugar cookies and it turned out awesome!

I've never made different flavored icings before, but I just had this problem with my icing not drying last week.  I realized afterward that I had whipped it too long (using the whisk attachment also) and I had forgotten to add my usual tablespoon of corn syrup. I'm sure other things can cause the issue also but I know that's what it was for me.