Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

It would be impossible for me to talk about chocolate chip cookie recipes without retelling the story of their creation.

The fact is that a dietitian first baked America's favorite cookie!

Ruth Graves Wakefield was the woman responsible for coming up with the recipe.

Ruth graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. After graduation, she actually did work as a dietitian.

I'm not sure when her husband Kenneth Wakefield came into her life but in 1930 they purchased an old toll house near Whitman Massachusetts. Together they converted it into a lodge and called it The Toll House Inn.

Ruth was in charge of the meals for guests and it wasn't long before she developed quite a reputation all over New England for her desserts.

The story goes that one day Ruth was preparing Butter Drop Do cookies and discovered that she was out of baker's chocolate. She substituted by chopping a Nestle semi-sweet chocolate bar into tiny bits.

She was expecting the tiny bits to melt into the dough and turn the cookie chocolate. Instead of melting the chocolate held it's shape and turned to the creamy texture recognized in today's recipes.

Ruth was so pleased with this result that she continued to use the Nestle chocolate in her recipe. It became extremely popular with guests and soon her chocolate chip cookie recipe was published in several of the New England newspapers.

The Nestle Company saw the popularity as a good marketing tool for their chocolate. Ruth and Nestle came to an agreement that would allow Nestle to print the "Toll House Cookie" recipe on its packaging.

Nestle recognized that chopping their bars into bits was a chore for cookie bakers so in 1939 they came up with the idea of semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

So here we are over 60 years later with the morsels still available and the recipe still printed on the back. Amazing!

Here's the recipe:

Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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