Original Chocolate Chip Cookies
The original chocolate chip cookies as created by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn
City/Region: Whitman, Massachusetts
Time Period: 1938
Ruth Wakefield and her head pastry chef Sue Brides created the chocolate crunch cookie in 1938 using Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate bars, which had to be chopped up first. The cookies caught on and became so popular that Nestle bought her recipe, put it on the package, and eventually started making chocolate morsels just for the cookies.
The original recipe is very close to the one that is still on packages today. The cookies are a bit smaller and Ruth said in later interviews that the dough should be chilled overnight and the balls of dough should be flattened slightly before baking, but it’s still a classic chocolate chip cookie. What’s not to like?
Check out the episode to see a side-by-side comparison with a ration friendly WWII recipe.
“Cream 1 cup butter, add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and 2 eggs beaten whole. Dissolve 1 tsp soda in 1 tsp hot water, and mix alternately with 2 1/4 cups flour sifted with 1 tsp salt. Lastly add 1 cup chopped nuts and 2 bars (7 oz.) Nestle’s yellow label chocolate, semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with 1 tsp. vanilla and drop half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375° oven. Makes 100 cookies. ”
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 14 ounces chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Cream the butter until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, baking soda water, and vanilla until combined.
- Whisk together the flour and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.
- Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips just until evenly distributed.
- Cover and chill the dough overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190° C).
- Scoop dough into balls, about 14 grams each. A half a teaspoon is way too small of a measurement, so I found weighing the dough to be the best way. Place them on lined baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Press the cookie dough down a bit.
- Bake for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.