Cat Fancies

These chocolate chip cookies get shaped into adorable cat faces using pecan halves for pointy ears, broken pretzel sticks for whiskers, and candy-coated chocolates for eyes and a little nose. Kids go absolutely wild for them, and they’re a guaranteed hit at bake sales and birthday parties.

The base is a brown sugar dough with semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped pecans folded in. Chilling the dough for at least an hour is a must so it holds its shape when you flatten and decorate each ball. If you skip the chill, the cookies will spread too much and you’ll lose the cat face shape.

Press the candy pieces in right after the cookies come out of the oven while the dough is still soft enough to grip them. Wait too long and they won’t stick.

Chef Tips

• For chewy cookies, pull them at 8 minutes when they still look slightly underdone in the center. They’ll firm up as they cool.
• Space the dough balls a full 3 inches apart. These spread quite a bit.
• If you skip the pecans in the dough, add extra chocolate chips to keep the cookie from being too plain.
• Use M&Ms or Smarties for the eyes and mouth. Pick colors that stand out against the brown dough.

Variations

• Use almond slivers instead of pecan halves for pointier, sharper-looking ears.
• Try white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet for a lighter look that lets the “face” pop more.
• Make them spooky for Halloween by using orange and black candies and calling them black cat cookies.