August 4 is a day to be celebrated! It is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!
Chocolate Chip cookies are attributed to Ruth Graves Wakefield who ran out of baker’s chocolate for a cookie recipe in 1937. Instead she used semi-sweet chocolate and they were an instant success. As you may have guessed, this all happened at the Toll House Inn!
Wakefield was a chef, dietitian, teacher, and author. She and her husband owned the Toll House Inn near Boston, MA where Wakefield was also famous for her lobster dinners.
The cookies were an experiment on a recipe she discovered in Egypt and she broke up a Nestle chocolate bar into the dough. The recipe took off during World War 2 when soldiers over seas asked their families for Toll House cookies. It also led to a spike in sales of Nestle chocolate bars. Andrew Nestle and Wakefield made a business arrangement. Wakefield gave Nestle the right to use her recipe for one dollar and a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate.
Talk about a sweet deal!