The Sweet History of the Chocolate Chip Cookie

Once upon a time, before anyone had even heard of a chocolate chip, there were cookies. Cookies, which are small, sweet treats, have been around for hundreds of years.

They first appeared in Persia (now Iran) around the 7th century, where sugar was a new discovery. People were so excited by this sweet ingredient that they started mixing it into dough, creating the first ever cookies. 

These early cookies weren’t exactly like the ones we know today, but they were still tasty and spread quickly across Europe and, eventually, to America.

Fast forward to the 1930s in the United States, where a baker named Ruth Wakefield ran a popular inn called the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. Ruth loved to bake for her guests, and she often tried new recipes to keep things exciting.

One day, she decided to make a batch of butter cookies with chocolate in them, but she ran out of the usual baking chocolate she used. 

So, she broke a bar of Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate into tiny pieces and added them to the cookie dough, hoping they’d melt and mix smoothly. But they didn’t.

The small chocolate pieces softened but held their shape, giving each cookie a delicious, chocolatey bite. This "accidental" cookie creation became an instant hit, and Ruth called them "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies." Soon, people everywhere wanted to make them.

This recipe spread so quickly that even the company that made Ruth's chocolate, Nestlé, noticed. They decided to add her recipe to their chocolate bar wrappers and eventually made it even easier by creating small, bite-sized pieces of chocolate for baking what we know today as chocolate chips.

Before chocolate chips, bakers used big chunks or shaved bits of chocolate in cookies. Ruth’s cookie recipe inspired Nestlé to produce ready made chocolate chips, making the chocolate chip cookie easier to bake at home.

These cookies became so popular that, in 1939, Nestlé even worked out a deal with Ruth to print her recipe on their packaging. As a thank you, she received a lifetime supply of chocolate from Nestlé.

Fun Fact: The chocolate chip cookie is now so famous that it’s considered the most popular cookie in the United States. In fact, chocolate chip cookies have even been sent to space with astronauts.

So, believe it or not, the chocolate chip cookie was invented before chocolate chips even existed. 

Thanks to Ruth Wakefield's clever baking experiment, we now enjoy these delightful cookies with chocolate chips that add just the right amount of sweetness and crunch.

Next time you munch on a chocolate chip cookie, remember that this tasty treat started with a happy accident in a small inn kitchen many years ago.