What would the world be without chocolate chip cookies?! Well surprisingly enough they aren’t hundreds of years old, with the recipes flooding to America by ship in the 1700’s with the masses. It wasn’t until the 1930’s (yes 19, like less than 100 years ago) that they came to true recognition.
Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner and chef/baker at Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, was baking desserts for the restaurant and went outside the directions of the recipe she had to create something new and different. Some say it was an accidental discovery, others say she stated it was intentional. Either way, the cookie was a big hit at the Toll House Inn.
During WWII US soldiers from Massachusetts would receive “Toll House Chocolate Chunk Cookies” in care packages from their families. Obviously these soldiers shared with their friends, which led to them writing home sharing about the Toll House cookies and asking to be sent some as well. This resulted in many many letters to Whitman stating the great demand for the cookies and the recipe! Thus spreading Toll House Chocolate Chunk Cookies far and wide.
Ruth used Nestle chocolate in her recipe, and she had noted that in her cookbook Toll House Tried and True Recipes. That cookbook became a best seller and caught Nestle’s attention. They made Ruth an offer to buy her recipe; her recipe and the Toll House name, for one dollar and a life time supply of chocolate. Chocolate chip cookies today are a multi billion dollar market. There’s even a “Chocolate Chip Cookie Day” (it’s today 🙃). Some may say she made a terrible deal… but either way you look at it, look at the difference that Ruth’s one decision to not follow the recipe had on the world!
Who knew there was such a life lesson in every delicious cookie since Ruth’s first batch in the thirties. Remember that the next time you have a little bit of an out side of the box idea. Whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for some encouragement if you need it and go for that idea!
Ruth’s Original Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs - beaten
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon hot water
- 2 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 Nestle’s semi sweet bars (7oz each)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Cut Nestle bars into pea size pieces
- Cream butter
- Add sugars and beaten eggs to creamed butter
- Dissolve baking soda in water, and mix with the sifted flour and salt
- Add the cut chocolate and chopped nuts
- Flavor with vanilla
- Drop half teaspoon of dough on baking sheet
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 375 degrees
What are your favorite chocolate chip cookie tips or tricks? Share with us below!