Other than those of you allergic to chocolate, who doesn’t love a warm, just-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie? It’s hands down America’s favorite. But how much do you know about this cookie?
The Toll House Inn
In 1930, Ruth Wakefield and her husband Ken purchased an old toll house in Whitman, Massachusetts, on the old Boston to New Bedford toll road. They opened a restaurant in the more than 200-year-old building and called it the Toll House Inn. In spite of the Great Depression, the restaurant succeeded, thanks in part to its fabulous desserts. Soon it became one of New England’s most famous restaurants.
Did You Know…
- Toll roads, or turnpikes, had gates to bar travelers from using the road unless they paid the toll.
- The word turnpike comes from the gates or pikes, which were turned once the toll was collected.
- Massachusetts’ Turnpike Era ran from 1796 to about 1850.
- Celebrities like Cole Porter, Joe DiMaggio, and Eleanor Roosevelt all dined at the Toll House Inn on their way to Cape Cod.
- Much of the Inn’s success was due to special desserts, like the three-inch tall lemon meringue pie. Another Inn favorite was the rich butterscotch pecan rolls that filled every table’s breadbasket.
The Myth
Supposedly, the chocolate chip cookie was created at the Toll House Inn. One story claims that in 1939 while making her “Butter Drop-Do” cookies, Ruth ran out of nuts, and in a happy twist of fate, added a chopped-up bar of Nestlé’s semisweet chocolate instead. (Other variations of the legend have her running out of butter and/or time to melt the chocolate.) Regardless of which version you go with, she expected a marble cookie created by the melted and swirled chocolate. Instead, the chocolate held its shape, creating the first chocolate chip cookie. She called these cookies Chocolate Crispies. They were a hit and soon became an Inn staple.
Did You Know…
- Ruth Wakefield’s original chocolate chip cookies were thin and crispy. They weren’t the soft gooey cookies we think of today.
- She gave her cookie recipe to anyone who requested it, including a Boston newspaper, which published it.
- In her first cookbook, Ruth called the cookies Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies.
Nestlé
Nestlé’s chocolate bar sales increased in the Boston area, and it didn’t take the company long to figure out why. Soon they began scoring the chocolate bars, so they’d break more easily. Then they got Mrs. Wakefield’s permission to print her cookie recipe on the wrapper as Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. The cookie’s popularity really took off, and Nestlé soon began manufacturing teardrop-shaped “chips” (or chocolate morsels) to make baking the cookie easier.
Did You Know…
- Chocolate chips are called chips because you had to manually chip the Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar into small pieces.
- Today Nestlé offers allergen-free morsels in three options: white, dark chocolate, and semi-sweet. They are organic, vegan, and gluten-free, as well as free from tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, milk, wheat, soy, and fish and shellfish.
The Truth
According to Carolyn Wyman, cookbook author and chocolate chip cookie fan, the cookie recipe being a “happy accident” doesn’t fly. Ruth Wakefield was a trained culinary professional and known for her attention to detail. She developed the recipe on purpose, and in a 1970s article, told a reporter just that.
Wakefield’s recipe set in motion the cookie’s rise in popularity, but she didn’t create the first chocolate chip cookie. Newspaper advertisements from a decade before described chocolate chip cookies for sale. In fact, by the 1930s, it was common for all major supermarkets to sell cookies with chips of chocolate baked into them.
Early chocolate chip cookies probably came from variations of the Chocolate Jumble, a popular drop cookie. Some of these recipes called for large amounts of shaved chocolate. Rather than grating chocolate bars, an easy shortcut would have been to chop the bar into small chips. So, in reality, practicality, with a bit of laziness, gave life to the chocolate chip cookie.
The Recipe
Ruth Wakefield may not have created the first chocolate chip cookie, but it’s her recipe that made it America’s favorite. Click here to get the recipe (scroll up) and watch a video with step-by-step instructions on how to make Nestlé Toll House’s Original Chocolate Chip Cookies.