Brownie Cookies x Soot Sprites from Spirited Away

Studio Ghibli Inspired Baking

Ready in under 30 mins. No chill cookies. Just a whisk!

Hi there! This is a quick and easy cookie recipe. There’s no need to soften butter and no need to chill the dough. As a result, these cookies are ready in under 30 minutes and all you need is a whisk!

Brownie cookies are exactly as it suggests – it’s a brownie in cookie form. It combines the best parts of a brownie with the best parts of a cookie. It’s not as thick as a normal brownie (if anything, these cookies are on the thinner side) but it has the same delicious chocolatey flavour. They’re chewy and feature beautiful cracked tops. They’re perfect for the chocolate lover. If you don’t like chocolate, I have a matcha version of these cookies you can try.

These cookies recreate the soot sprite scene seen in the Studio Ghibli film “Spirited Away” where Lin tosses konpeito candy to the soots down in Kamaji’s boiler room. You may also recognize these soots from “My Neighbor Totoro”. Below is a photo of the soots in case you don’t remember them. Look at how cute and silly they are!

Ingredients:

50g all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
5g cocoa powder
65g brown sugar
1 egg
35g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
100g milk chocolate
for decoration: mini Oreos, start shaped sprinkles, and royal icing (or melted chocolate)

Instructions

This recipe makes 6 LARGE brownie cookies.

Preheat the oven to 365F (180C).
Separate the Oreo cream from the cookie. Set the cookies aside.
In microwave safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate chips. Microwave until it’s melted. Give it a quick mix then set it aside.
In a new bowl, mix the egg and brown sugar until it’s well combined and the overall colour lightens (refer to the photos below).
Add the melted butter and chocolate from earlier. Mix until it’s combined.
Add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt). Mix until combined.
Scoop the batter onto the baking tray. Leave at least 1-2 inches of space in-between since the cookies will spread as they bake.
Scatter the Oreos and sprinkles on top of each cookie for the soots.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Let the cookies cool then draw eyes and legs for the soots using royal icing or melted chocolate.

NOTES:

The cookies spread when they bake. If you find the positions to the star sprinkles aren’t ideal, simply add more sprinkles on the cookies before they cool. Or place a small dollop of chocolate/royal icing on the star sprinkle then place it on the brownie cookie.
Dutch cocoa powder will result in a darker cookie compared to regular cocoa powder.
I personally like to flip the Oreo cookies over so the smooth side is facing up. This makes it easier to draw the eyes on the soot sprites.