Ghibli Week 6: The Borrower Arrietty's Peanut Butter and Jam Thumbprint Cookies

This post we shrink down in size and visit The Secret World of Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ). Based on the novel, ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton, it follows a young boy’s discovery of the hidden world of the Borrowers, tiny people who live within the walls of his mother’s childhood home. Accompanied by a gorgeous soundtrack by French musician Cecile Corbel, you can listen to the theme song here.

(source) 

Now astute readers may be going 'Hey, wait a minute, you never said anything about doing Arrietty in your Ghibli Week run down', but after giving it some thought, I couldn't go past this movie especially since I adore the soundtrack. So without further ado, let's get to the recipe!

Blink and you'll miss the cookies in this scene.

It's peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time!

Thumbprint cookies or jam drops, I know these as 'those cookies with a bit of jam in the middle'. As you can tell, I'm probably not the most creative at naming things. I decided to make the cookie peanut butter flavoured because winning combination right there. To those with peanut allergies, please accept my apologies but these would be equally as good if you used shortbread instead. Hmm, that gives me an idea for a future post...This recipe's super simple as well and can easily be whipped up for afternoon snacks. Make a cup of your preferred tea or coffee and enjoy!

Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract - whatever's on hand

Whipped until light and fluffy

Eventually you end up with this - it's quite soft and it's kind of got the consistency of icecream

Nut balls *snickers*

Flatten them slightly and...

Boop! Thumbprint cookies.

Wham, bam, there's the jam.

Peanut Butter and Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Makes 40 cookies

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4C plain flour
• 100g smooth peanut butter
• 1C brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)
• 1/4 tsp bicarb soda, sifted
• pinch of salt

• Jam of your choice (I used strawberry)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160'C (180'C fan forced). Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Put the butter, peanut butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until mixture becomes pale in colour and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix in the flour, salt and bicarb soda until all combined.
4. Put mixture in the refrigerator for ~20-30 minutes to firm up.
5. Once time has elapsed, remove from fridge and roll roughly a tablespoon of dough into a ball between your hands, then place on the prepared tray and flatten slightly. Space the balls ~ 3-5 cm apart to allow room for spreading.
6. Use your thumb or index finger to create indentations in the flattened cookies, then fill the indent with jam.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a cooling rack to allow them to cool completely. 
8. Prior to serving, more jam can be spread on the cookie (for people with a sweet tooth).

Happy slothing!!
xx