Most of us grew up eating chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were staples of most childhoods, even when the cookies were store bought. Now, the chocolate chip cookie is possibly the most recognized and most popular cookie of all of the cookies that are available. It is hard to think that there was ever a time in which chocolate chip cookies were not well known. It is true, though. Chocolate chip cookies had to be invented by someone. So who is responsible for the invention of chocolate chip cookie?
The invention of chocolate chip cookie is credited to Ruth Graves Wakefield.
Ruth Wakefield was a graduate of the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts. She graduated in 1924 and spent her time after her graduation as a food lecturer and a dietician. She and her husband, Kenneth Wakefield, bought a cape cod styled "toll house" that was halfway between New Bedford and Boston in Massachusetts. The house was over two hundred years old and had previously been known as a sanctuary for people who were passing through, on their way to someplace else. It was sort of like a boarding house and a bed and breakfast rolled into the same thing. When Ruth and her husband purchased the house, they turned it into the "Toll House Inn" lodge. Ruth was in charge of cooking for the guests who were passing through and enjoyed improving on traditional recipes from the Colonial days.
It wasn't long before her food was bringing people to The Toll House from all over the region.
Among Ruth's favorite recipes was a cookie that was known as the Butter Drop Do. These cookies were typically made with baker's chocolate, but one day while she was making the butter drop dos, she discovered that she was out of baker's chocolate but that she did have a semi-sweet chocolate bar on hand (incidentally, this bar was given to her by Andrew Nestle). She cut the bar into small bits and pieces and then added them to her cookie dough. She figured the pieces would melt like the baker's chocolate did when it was baked. Instead of melting, the chocolate pieces just got a little bit softer and creamier, but managed to keep their shape.
These cookies became popular almost instantly. The cookies were named Tollhouse cookies after the lodge in which they were invented.
The Nestle Company enjoyed some popularity thanks to Ruth's cookies but the company really took off when it developed what would become known as the "standard" chocolate chip, which they called a morsel. These morsels made the cookies far easier to make and it wasn't long before the cookies became a staple of households all over the country.
The original recipe that Ruth used to make her first chocolate chip cookies is still printed on the back of the Nestle morsels' bags. Since the invention of chocolate chip cookie, the recipe has been copyrighted. Only Nestle is allowed to print the original recipe.
Tip #1
You can save cookie making time by mixing your ingredients while your oven preheats. That way your dough can go right into the oven when you finish mixing your ingredients. You can also save time by cleaning up as you go along. Rinse off the measuring spoons and the bowls as you finish using them. Wash the rest of the dishes as the cookies are baking and cooling. |
Tip #2
Shortening is one of the single worst things you can put into your body. If a recipe calls for shortening you should substitute butter or margarine for it. Butter and margarine can be used interchangeably unless a recipe specifically says to use one or the others. Don't worry about the calories and talk yourself into using low calorie or whipped butter. These substitutes will ruin the taste of the cookies. |
Tip #3
Rotate your cookie sheets. Cookies form best on ungreased and cooled cookie sheets. After you transfer cookies from the sheet to the cooling rack, you should rinse off the used sheet and get it prepped for another batch of cookies. Using a warmed sheet can overcook the cookies. |
