Image Credit (Flickr)
In America, chocolate chip cookies are about as ubiquitous as Apple Pie and baseball. While not everyone likes them, pretty much everyone has eaten them, and those who haven't certainly are well aware of their existence. Stories of its origins have circulated for years, with the common myth being that they were created on accident by a woman who dropped chocolate bar chunks into her cookie dough and decided to stick them in the oven anyways. However, as a recent article in
Slate points out, the inception of America's most beloved cookie was not a fluke so much as an act of brilliance by a (then) popular New England chef.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Chocolate chip cookies were indeed created by
Ruth Wakefield in 1938. The depression era chef and restaurant owner decided to try something that would make her butterscotch cookies more enticing by adding cut up pieces of chocolate bars to the dough, and serving the treat with Ice Cream. As
Slate notes, back in the 1930's, the now common idea of combining different desserts was a new and exciting idea. Wakefield's Whitman, Massachusetts restaurant, called the
Toll House (see the connection?) was a very popular spot, and even had it's fair share of famous patrons. With good reason too, as Wakefield was an
accomplished chef and restauranteur, known for good food and a very tightly managed staff.
Wakefield partnered with Nestlé, and the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe became the
most frequently made back-of-the-package recipe in the US. It also led to the production of one of the only food ingredients produced for a specific recipe, chocolate chips. Wakefield's original recipe called for chocolate bar chunks, leading the way for the more commercial friendly, ready-to-go chocolate chips.
Check out the source link below for the full article, chock full o'details.
Source:
Slate 
Tablebases.com
