Antonia's recipe is the best IMHO!! I really like it and so far everyone who tastes it loves it also. It isn't too sweet, you can change the flavor by adding, vanilla, almond, ECT, and it gets hard but not as hard as when royal icing dries alone. 
Hey Helen,
I still experimenting but I'll share what I know or think I know, LOL!! I don't think it has effected how the icing hardens but I bet you (the cookie queen, LOL) can tell for sure. I added a little less water and just added I think 1 teaspoon of vanilla or almond. I just added the same flavor to the icing as the cookies. No oil for sure, I know that is a no no for royal icing. The almond and vanilla just say water, alcohol & artificial flavorings so I guess there is no oil in it. Maybe it didn't alter the flavor but just the smell, I didn't add very much. Or maybe since the cookies had the flavor it made me think the icing was changed, LOL!!
The only negative thing is that my friend said after about 4 days, the house cookie icing bleed and got soft. I am guessing that since she put the cookies and cake in the same airtight container that the royal icing absorbed some grease from the buttercream. I hope so since none of the cookies I kept bleed at all. I kept one for almost a week to test it. I hope it wasn't the flavoring but I guess it could have been.
Please let me know what you think when you try it. I don't stack my cookies and have only made 4 batches so far so I hope it doesn't effect the hardening.
TONIA
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