How many chocolate chip cookies have you had in your life? Have you ever once stopped to wonder who came up with such a delicious idea? Probably not.
Right now, you are probably thinking, wait someone had to invent that? Chocolate chunks did not always come in cookies, are you kidding? Actually, no, but it seems as natural as the sky is blue, right?
Chocolate chip cookies were actually invented by chef Ruth Wakefield, who created them for the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts which she owned at that time.
Wakefield has adamantly protested the rumor that she created this great American staple by accident. More specifically, that she expected the chocolate to melt in the cookie and it was an accident that the cookie actually worked. Wakefield states that the invention was not an accident, but in fact, a deliberate design. She wanted something that would be unique to the Toll House Inn.
Well, if she wanted unique, she definitely got it. As you already know, the cookie became wildly successful. Interestingly enough, her first published cookbook Toll House Tried and True Recipes did not include the cookie. It wasn’t until the second edition two years later, in 1938, that the recipe for the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.
How did the cookie become a national sensation? Two reasons.
First, WWII soldiers stationed in Massachusetts receiving care packages with the delicious cookies shared with other soldiers. Soon, soldiers were writing home requesting chocolate chip cookies in their care packages.
The second jump to national stardom came from the Nestle corporation. Nestle jumped on the opportunity for marketing and to this day every single bag of Nestle chocolate chips has a variation of the cookie printed on it.
Today the variations of this cookie using creative doughs and diverse mix-ins are literally endless. Whole cookbooks are now dedicated to just variations of the chocolate chip cookie. While these variations are exciting, nothing stands the test of time like the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe invented at the Toll House Inn.