Abby Connolly
Sometimes, nothing is better than treating yourself to a warm chocolate chip cookie.
Do you know anything about the classic American dessert’s origin?
The chocolate chip cookie was invented by Ruth Wakefield, a dietitian, cook, and co-owner of the Toll House Inn.
Ruth was born in Massachusetts in 1903. After graduating from Framingham State Normal School of Household Arts in 1924, she worked as a home economics teacher and hospital dietitian. She married her husband, Kenneth Wakefield, in 1926.
The couple opened the Toll House Inn together. Ruth worked as a cook at the inn and planned menus for the guests. Her meals became so popular that she published her own cookbook in 1931.
In 1938, while working at the inn with her cooking assistant, Sue Brides, they created a solid recipe for pecan drop cookies. While everyone was a big fan of those cookies, she wanted to add something new to the recipe and change things up.
Ruth had the idea to add melted baker’s chocolate to the dough. But all she had available in the kitchen was a bar of Nestlé’s semisweet chocolate, so she and Sue decided to add bits of the chocolate bar into the cookie dough without melting it, creating a chocolate chip cookie.
Diners at the Toll House Inn loved how the chocolate didn’t melt or spread out into the dough but instead stayed intact as little tasty chunks. Thus, Ruth named the cookie the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.
As the cookies became more popular, the recipe was published in ads and featured in Ruth’s next cookbook. Betty Crocker shared the recipe on a radio program, and in 1939, Ruth sold it to Nestlé so they could feature it on their packaging.
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