Adrift in our memory banks are the smells and tastes of the food of our childhoods. One whiff of something familiar coming from the kitchen and we are instantly kids again. And no food is more closely aligned with that of childhood than the chocolate chip cookie. Warm and gooey, hard and crunchy, filled with nuts or deliciously plain, the chocolate chip cookie embodies all that is sweet and wonderful about childhood.
As owners and operators of the Toll House Inn in 1930s Massachusetts, Ruth Wakefield and her husband tended to all of their guests needs in an effort to give them a unique experience. Ruth herself worked in the kitchen, quickly gaining popularity with her scrumptious desserts. One favorite, the Butter Drop Do cookie called for bakers chocolate. Having run out of bakers chocolate during one of her weekly cookie bakes, Ruth instead substituted semi-sweet chocolate from a bar given to her by one of her guests Andrew Nestle of Nestle Chocolate Company. Needless to say, the new chocolate chip cookie became quite a hit, as tasters enjoyed the softened chocolate nestled inside the cookie a far cry from the bakers chocolate, which melted entirely.
The...