the world of chocolate chip cookies

what is a chocolate chip cookie?

A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient.

Generally, the recipe starts with a dough composed of flour, butter, both brown and white sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, eggs, and vanilla. Variations on the recipe may add other types of chocolate, as well as additional ingredients such as nuts or oatmeal. There are also vegan versions with the necessary ingredient substitutions, such as vegan chocolate chips, vegan margarine, and egg substitutes. A chocolate chocolate chip cookie uses a dough flavored with chocolate or cocoa powder, before chocolate chips are mixed in. These variations of the recipe are also referred to as ‘double’ or ‘triple’ chocolate chip cookies, depending on the combination of dough and chocolate types.

a brief history of the chocolate chip cookie

Unlike the anonymous inventors of such American staples as the hot dog, the grilled-cheese sandwich, and the milkshake, the creator of the chocolate-chip cookie has always been known to us. Ruth Wakefield, who ran the popular Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, with her husband, Kenneth, from 1930 to 1967, brought the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie into being in the late nineteen-thirties.

The recipe, which has been tweaked over the ensuing decades, made its first appearance in print in the 1938 edition of Wakefield’s “Tried and True” cookbook. Created as an accompaniment to ice cream, the chocolate-chip cookie quickly became so celebrated that Marjorie Husted (a.k.a. Betty Crocker) featured it on her radio program. On March 20, 1939, Wakefield gave Nestlé the right to use her cookie recipe and the Toll House name. In a bargain that rivals Peter Minuit’s purchase of Manhattan, the price was a dollar—a dollar that Wakefield later said she never received (though she was reportedly given free chocolate for life and was also paid by Nestlé for work as a consultant).

While we have always known the who, the where, and the when of the chocolate-chip cookie’s origins, the how and the why have remained somewhat obscure. A set of often-repeated creation myths have grown up around the country’s favorite baked good. The most frequently reproduced story is that Wakefield unexpectedly ran out of nuts for a regular ice-cream cookie recipe and, in desperation, replaced them with chunks chopped out of a bar of Nestle bittersweet chocolate. (A variation of this tale has Wakefield substituting the chips after running out of bakers’ chocolate.) Another even more unlikely story posits that the vibrations from an industrial mixer caused chocolate stored on a shelf in the Toll House kitchen to fall into a vat of cookie dough as it was being mixed.

None of these, it appears, is true. In her recently published “Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book,” the food writer Carolyn Wyman offers a more believable, if somewhat less enchanted, telling. Wyman argues, persuasively, that Wakefield, who had a degree in household arts and a reputation for perfectionism, would not have allowed her restaurant, which was famed for its desserts, to run out of such essential ingredients as bakers’ chocolate or nuts. Rather, the more plausible explanation is that Wakefield developed the chocolate-chip cookie “by dint of training, talent, [and] hard work.” As prepared as she was, though, it is unlikely that the diligent proprietor of the Toll House could have predicted that her combination of butter, flour, sugar, nuts, and chocolate would go on to become an iconic American food, adored by adults and children, creating fortunes and spawning countless imitations and variations.

variations of the chocolate chip cookie

There are few things in life better than a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie. But sometimes it’s nice to try a variation of this classic dessert. Here are ten chocolate chip cookie recipes that are anything but boring, plus a little bonus at the end.

Chocolate chip cookies are insanely delicious, without a doubt, but they are also a perfect base for new flavors and textures. Peruse this list of cookie recipes that use chocolate chips and I’m sure you’ll find a new bake to try out!

espresso chip cookies

This espresso chip cookie recipe is my absolute favorite! The brown butter, espresso, and cinnamon combine to make this intense roasty, toasty flavor that is basically a warm hug in cookie form.

the giant chocolate chip cookie

Go big or go home, am I right? Well here’s one big ole chocolate chip cookie to get you through the night. Bake it in a cast iron skillet for a perfect crust, yet an ooey, gooey center. Live your life to the fullest and top this bad boy with a scoop of ice cream.

coconut chocolate chip

Okay, this chocolate chip cookie recipe was a total experiment, but it worked out deliciously. I subbed some coconut cream in for a portion of the butter. This thick, chewy cookie also boasts a modest amount of shredded coconut and a combination of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Over the years, I have come to really love the subtle flavor that is coconut. With the different chocolate chips and chewy texture of this cookie, it is a wonderful twist on a classic cookie.

cookie dough macarons

Basically, picture the fanciest, pantsiest version of a chocolate chip cookie and you end up with these. Heck, if you’re not up for making macs, just dig into that edible cookie dough!

walnut chocolate chip

The walnuts add texture and a ton of flavor to the thick, chewy cookies.

chocolate peanut butter chip cookies

While not technically a “chocolate chip” cookie recipe, these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies definitely deserve an honorable mention. Fudgy, rich chocolate cookies studded with peanut butter chips make this the best cookie recipe for anyone who just loves Reese’s cups.

"I still believe in small quantity cookery, as giving the best results in flavor, consistency and general quality, especially in baking..." ---ruth wakefield

Ruth Jones Graves Wakefield (June 17, 1903 – January 10, 1977; maiden name: Ruth Graves) was an American chef, best known for her innovations in the baking field. Ruth pioneered the first chocolate chip cookie recipe, an invention many people incorrectly assume was a mistake.

should i chill my cookie dough before I bake?

the cooler the better

Cool down your dough for a tastier, chewier cookie. As little as 30 minutes in your fridge or freezer can help your cookie brown better, spread less, and develop a richer chewy texture. There’s a few reasons why, but one important part is it gives the butter in your dough a chance to firm up before baking.

The colder your dough is before it heads into the oven, the less it will spread during baking, which makes for loftier cookies. The chilling phase also gives the flour in your dough time to hydrate, just like pie dough, which translates into a cookie that’s more chewy than cakey. You can even portion out and freeze your dough for long-term storage, then bake just a few dough balls for convenience. But even a short cool-down will reward you with tastier cookies.

at what temperature should i bake the cookies?

350° is the standard temp for a cookie, and it's a great one. Your cookies will bake evenly and the outside will be done at the same time as the inside. Baking at 325° also results in an evenly baked cookie, but the slower cooking will help yield a chewier cookie. The outsides will be a little softer, too.

in conclusion

Wakefield’s cookie was the perfect antidote to the Great Depression. In a single inexpensive hand-held serving, it contained the very richness and comfort that millions of people were forced to live without in the late nineteen-thirties. Ingesting a warm chocolate-chip cookie offered the eaters a brief respite from their quotidian woe.

America’s entry into the Second World War only enhanced the popularity of Wakefield’s creation. Toll House cookies were a common constituent in care packages shipped to American soldiers overseas. Though chocolate was in short supply domestically because of the war effort, women on the home front were encouraged to use what little they had to bake cookies for “that soldier boy of yours,” as one Nestlé ad put it.

The Toll House restaurant’s gift shop alone sent thousands of cookies to uniformed servicemen abroad. “Like Spam and Coca-Cola,” Wyman writes, “chocolate chip cookies’ fame was boosted by wartime soldier consumption. Before the war they were a largely East Coast-based fad; after Toll House cookies rivaled apple pie as the most popular dessert recipe in the country.”

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