I wanna answer this question because, as of yet, I haven't seen the solution I'm about to pose. The solution typically given is: God created the damned, but He is not responsible for their damnation because they freely choose to rebel. Creating them in and of itself is an act of grace, since they have the fortune of bearing His image. Whether they appreciate that or not is on them.
I have no problem with that answer, but I think something is missing. The question itself is a nonsense question given Reformed Theology. I'll write a post about this later, but for those of you who already know, I will appeal to the decree of God.
Logical Foundations
Let's talk about facts of knowledge. Suppose rainy days make me sad. And suppose we live in a possible world where my sadness happens simultaneously with my knowledge that it's raining outside. While my experience of sadness and my knowledge of raining would be temporally co-extensive, my knowledge that it's raining would be the logical foundation of my sadness. Here's what that means. If we consider a certain fact X, and a certain fact Y, if X is the logical foundation of Y, Y cannot exist without X.
Let X = my knowledge that it's raining.
Let Y = My sadness derived from a rainy day.
Y cannot exist without X, even though in this possible world, they are temporally co-extensive. So how does that apply to God?
God's Knowledge and Decree
God is omniscient, so He already knows everything-including His own actions. (For the record, this isn't a restraint on His freedom, as restraints on freedom are external in nature. God's foreknowledge of His actions derive from His decree of His actions from eternity past). Thus, God holds all facts of knowledge in His mind at any given moment. However, as I have discussed above, certain facts of knowledge are the logical foundations of other facts of knowledge. So let's first consider God's knowledge of the Cross. God knew that He would come to rescue us from eternity past. He predestined the Cross according to Acts 4. However, His knowledge of the Cross cannot exist without His knowledge that He will create-i.e, without His decree to create (since God's knowledge is contingent on what God decrees will happen throughout history). So if God's decree to create is the logical foundation of the Cross, then His knowledge of the events of the crucifixion exist only in light of His decree to create/His knowledge that there will be a creation. So let's apply this to the question at hand.
Answering the Question
Suppose Bob is a damned fool. Literally. That means from eternity past, God knows Bob will freely reject Him. However, the knowledge that Bob will freely reject God is only true in light of the fact that God has chosen to create Bob. (This is a reason I reject Molinism-but more on that in another post) In other words, it's not like there are a bunch of hypothetical people God didn't create because He knew how bad they would be. Hypothetical people who do not exist God knows nothing about-because there is nothing true about them. They are non-entities. Everyone who was going to exist exists. So when people ask "why did God create Hitler when God knew Hitler would do all those terrible things"-the question doesn't really make sense. God's knowledge of what Hitler would do is logically posterior to, not logically prior (i.e the logical foundation) of Hitler's existence. In other words, the fact that Hitler would exist is the logical foundation of God's knowledge of Hitler's actions. Thus, it makes no sense to ask "why did God create X if God knew X would do Y", because that assumes God's knowledge of what a person would do is logically prior to His knowledge that they will exist (which, again, is false given Reformed Theology).
Another Answer
The other question to be asked is: why did God create a world where He ordained that sin would be? The answer is: for His glory. God does not cause anyone to sin. Rather, He intentionally permits the rebellion of some. He lets people mock Him and spit at Him to both display the intensity of His justice and holiness in judging rebel sinners and not tolerating evil, and the riches of His mercy by saving these rebel sinners. His mercy shines all that more brightly against the backdrop of His wrath (see Romans 9). And for anyone who thinks this is egotistical, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SA9hokDLPo&list=PLKG-HUiN5dvvKJD0aQKlYjctTSlXFu9kA&index=2
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