Why Did My Royal Icing Crack?
Does your cookie look like my picture did below? If your royal icing looks cracked, or has ripples or waves, dents, and is uneven, chances are you moved the cookie as the icing was drying.
Royal Icing dries best when it is untouched, and left in front of a fan. When I made this llama cookie, I flooded the icing, let it sit on the table, picked it up, oohed and awed over it, then moved it to a drying rack. Unfortuantely this movement is what caused these cracks and ripples :( What happens is the top layer of icing is crusted over (just barely dry on the top layer) and the icing was still wet underneath. When the cookie is moved, shook, or held vertically even, the wet icing will break the top crusted layer of icing, causing these ripples and cracks.
Luckily I was able to cover the cracks with a cute little colored blanket and a harness on this llama. Another option would be to scrape it off and redo the icing, orrrr just count the cookie as a loss (or a win for my taste buds!) and get rid of it myself :)
Best practice to avoid these cracks and ripples is to avoid excessive movement when icing is crusted, keep your cookie horizontal and flat, and in front of a fan until it is completely dry (about 24 hours).
Coastline Cookies Co