If you’re a Tim Hortons fan, you’ve probably heard of smile cookies. A simple chocolate chip cookie decorated with blue and pink icing. Known for their quirky smiles, these have become an iconic treat across Canada. Here’s my allergy friendly vegan version of smile cookies that kids will love to help make. Spoiler alert: our 6 year old decorated these cookies!
Why I Made This Recipe
Living in Canada, we are blessed with having a Tim Hortons cafe on almost every street corner. But with our multitude of food allergies, we can no longer enjoy their baked goods as they all contain dairy. Every year when Smile Cookies are released, we make our own version so that our kids don’t miss out. And I just know that you’ll love making them too.
Why You Need to Make These
I mean, who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie? And when you jazz it up with a cute smile, it becomes even more irresistible. This recipe is quick and easy to make with a handful of regular ingredients. I’m sure once you try them, they’ll become a regular request in your home!
Ingredients and Substitutions
This is a vegan recipe with an easy option to make them gluten free as well. Read my FAQ section for common questions.
For the Cookies:
Flour: I prefer to use self raising flour in my chocolate chip cookies to encourage a bit of rising, rather than having flat cookies. Don’t have this particular flour? Check out my handy guide to make your own (includes all purpose and gluten free options).
Sugar: for this recipe, I am using white sugar. You can sub with brown sugar if you prefer.
Butter: my go-to is plant based unsalted butter. This recipe is not overly sweet so does not require additional salt.
Flavouring: I am adding vanilla bean paste for an extra flavour dimension.
Liquid: I am using water to thin down the cookie dough as I wanted to stick to simple ingredients. You could use plant based milk if you prefer.
Chocolate: I am using plant based chocolate chips. You could also use chunks if you prefer or cut up your favourite chocolate bar.
For the Icing:
Icing Sugar: I recommend sifting your icing sugar before making the icing to avoid any lumps.
Water: to thin down the icing.
Food Colouring: to recreate the iconic smile, I am using pink and sky blue food colouring.
Let’s Bake!
Making the Cookies
Preheat your oven to 320掳F and gather all ingredients. Allow the butter to come to room temperature before starting the recipe. Cream 125g butter, 75g white sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste in a mixing bowl.
Add 175g self raising flour and 2 tbsp water. Mix until everything is combined.
Stir in 150g chocolate chips.
Ensure that the chocolate chips are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough. And that’s it. Less than 2 minutes to mix everything together!
Baking Time!
Using an ice cream scoop, add balls of cookie dough to a baking pan. There is no need to grease or line the pan. I recommend leaving a gap between each ball as the cookies will spread a little bit.
Press down the cookie balls with the back of a spoon to flatten them slightly.
I made the last cookie a bit bigger than the rest so that our 6 year old could have a larger one. This recipe would normally make 12 cookies if you keep them to a similar size.
Bake at 320掳F for 20 minutes until lightly golden on the edges. I love to bake cookies so that the bottoms are golden as well. If you prefer yours to be lighter underneath, bake for a minute less.
Here’s what they look like when you break them open. Nice and full of chocolate chips and a great chewy crunch as well.
Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking pan before moving them onto a cooling rack.
Making the Icing
Add 1 drop of pink food colouring to 50g of icing sugar.
Mix and add water until you have a pipable consistency. I used approximately 2 teaspoons of water.
Repeat the process to make the blue icing.
Once the cookies have cooled, fill each piping bag with icing then cut a small amount off the end.
Pipe 2 blue dots for the eyes and a smile with the pink icing. I was helping my 6 year old pipe in this photo. He had a blast icing these cookies (and eating them!).
Allergy Friendly Smile Cookies
How can you resist such a cute cookie? And don’t forget that there’s no wrong way to decorate these. The quirkier the better!
Common Questions
This recipe yields approx 12 cookies, depending on the size that you make them. We often just eyeball it and don’t worry about them being equally sized.
Absolutely. Check out my hack to make your own gluten free self raising flour.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Every year Tim Hortons supports local charities and organizations across Canada where 100% of the sales of every $1 Smile Cookie sold during Smile Cookie Week gets donated. Find out more about this iconic treat here.
Allergy Friendly Smile Cookies
We had so much fun decorating these. Let me know if you’re going to try making some with your family.
More Kid Friendly Treats?
Check out this selection of family favourite snacks:
- The perfect lunch snack with my school safe banana mini muffins (vegan)
- Create your own allergy safe version of rice krispie treats (dairy free)
- My mini chocolate donuts are always a hit (vegan)
Allergy Friendly Smile Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 175 grams Self Raising Flour
- 75 grams White Sugar
- 125 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
- 2 tbsp Water
- 150 grams Vegan Chocolate Chips
For the Icing
- 100 grams Icing Sugar (divided in two bowls)
- Pink Food Colouring
- Sky Blue Food Colouring
- Water (to thin icing)
Instructions
Making the Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 320掳F and gather all ingredients. Allow the butter to come to room temperature before starting the recipe.
- Cream 125g butter, 75g white sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste in a mixing bowl.
- Add 175g self raising flour and 2 tbsp water. Mix until everything is combined.
- Stir in 150g chocolate chips.
- Using an ice cream scoop, add balls of cookie dough to a baking pan. There is no need to grease or line the pan. Press down the cookie balls to flatten them slightly. I recommend leaving a gap between each ball as the cookies will spread.
- Bake at 320掳F for 20 minutes until lightly golden.
- Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking pan before moving them on to a cooling rack.
Making the Icing
- Add 1 drop of pink food colouring to 50g of icing sugar. Mix and add water until you have a pipable consistency. I used approx 2 teaspoons. Repeat the process to make the blue icing.
- Once the cookies have cooled, pipe 2 blue eyes and a pink smile. The quirkier the better!
Video
Notes
- This recipe yields approx 12 cookies, depending on the size of cookies that you make.聽
- Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.聽
- Remember there is no wrong way to decorate smile cookies. Most of all, have fun making them!
- Nutritional information is based on 1 cookie per serving and nutrition information is calculated based on the ingredients in this recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
Love these! We always buy smile cookies every year and have never thought to make our own. Will definitely be trying these next time.
This was perfect for a friend party we had with kids that had allergies. Thank you this recipe so we could include everyone! I really appreciate it!
I’m so happy to hear that Ned!
I used to work at Tim Hortons, and every time the smile cookies rolled around it would make me so happy. I had to buy some! But now that I moved to the US I miss them! Thank you for such a great recipe 馃檪
I always feel the same way whenever I see smile cookie on sale. Happy this brought back good memories for you.
So fun and a super option for those with allergies! Really quick to make and tasty too, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed them.
These smile cookies were so much fun to make. Happy they’re allergy-friendly too so that everyone can enjoy them!
Thanks Paula.
these smile cookies look so cute. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome!
I made these cookies with the kids yesterday and they turned out great! It was fun getting the kids involved in the kitchen too
Our kids love making these as well. Glad you all had fun!
really good for went i am playing Fortnite, made me lock in for that victory royal.
Love that! 馃槀 So glad it gave you that extra boost!