Celebrate America’s favorite sweet treat with National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.
Who doesn’t love a chocolate chip cookie? It’s hard to beat the classic American cookie jar favorite. This cookie holds a lot of nostalgia for many of us. We have wonderful memories of enjoying one of mom’s delicious chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven with a glass of milk when we were children. Do you know where this iconic cookie came from?
The chocolate chip cookie was invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield of Whitman, MA. Ruth graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. She and her husband owned and operated a popular restaurant and lodge called the Toll House Inn in the 1930’s. Among the many recipes she prepared for the inn was a cookie that used bakers chocolate. The story goes that one day in 1937 she ran out of bakers chocolate so she decided to cut up a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar and mix it into the dough. It was a hit and the chocolate chip cookie was born. The recipe for her popular creation was first published in her 1938 cookbook called Toll House Tried and True Recipes.
The popularity of the recipe grew and in 1939 Andrew Nestlé negotiated with Ruth Wakefield to print it on their chocolate bar packaging and in exchange she would be provided with free chocolate. Initially Nestlé provided a small tool for chopping up the chocolate with all of the bars. In 1941 the company started producing the chip that we know today.
If you’re going out for lunch in Denver, or maybe just for coffee and a sweet treat, celebrate with a chocolate chip cookie!
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net