🍪 Chocolate chip cookies: the creation of a culinary classic

Chocolate chip cookies are such a sweet staple that most of us can’t even fathom a time when they weren’t found in cookie jars and grocery stores everywhere. But despite the timeless vibe, the chocolate chip cookie is a veritable youngster in the world of sugary snacks—even the Oreo is at least two decades older. Not only is it new, it’s the product of a sole inventor, the co-owner of a well-regarded Massachusetts restaurant famous for its desserts (some of which are allegedly better than chocolate chip cookies). She chunked a chocolate bar into chips and cookies changed forever. With the backing of a chocolate giant, which saw a medium for its semi-sweet product, and the need for comfort food during World War II, the new cookie became the definitive cookie. Let’s bite in. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Sponsored by [Quartz Obsession] Chocolate chip cookies November 15, 2018 More than a half-baked idea --------------------------------------------------------------- Chocolate chip cookies are such a sweet staple that most of us can’t even fathom a time when they weren’t found in cookie jars and grocery stores everywhere. But despite the timeless vibe, the chocolate chip cookie is a veritable youngster in the world of sugary snacks—even the Oreo is at least two decades older. Not only is it new, it’s the product of a sole inventor, the co-owner of a well-regarded Massachusetts restaurant famous for its desserts (some of which are allegedly better than chocolate chip cookies). She chunked a chocolate bar into chips and cookies changed forever. With the backing of a chocolate giant, which saw a medium for its semi-sweet product, and the need for comfort food during World War II, the new cookie became the definitive cookie. Let’s bite in. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the Digits [7 billion:]( Chocolate chip cookies eaten in the US annually. Half are homemade. [90 billion:]( Individual chocolate chips sold annually by Nestlé Toll House. [$1:]( Amount of money Ruth Wakefield received for selling her recipe to Nestlé. [$34:]( Price for a 3.4 oz “Chocolate Chip Cookie” cologne spray from Demeter. [<$500 million:]( Amount Krispy Kreme paid for the late night cookies-and-milk delivery service Insomnia Cookies in July. [$619 million:]( Sales of Nabisco Chips Ahoy in 2017, the second-most popular cookie brand in the US. [$674 million:]( Sales of Oreo, the number-one cookie brand. [12:]( Palm oil suppliers with whom Mondelez, maker of Chips Ahoy and Oreo, cut ties due to deforestation. Origin Story Ruth Wakefield: one smart cookie --------------------------------------------------------------- You may have heard the old yarn that chocolate chip cookies were invented when some clumsy baker accidentally knocked some chocolate into an industrial mixer full of dough. Or that they were a happy accident, the result of substituting chocolate chunks when the kitchen ran out of nuts. The real tale, however, is one of experimentation and perfectionism. Ruth Wakefield, who had taught home economics and worked as a hospital dietitian, ran a popular restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, with her husband. [According to]( The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book, the restaurant was renowned for its delicious desserts—and its military-like precision. “Long-range planning and constantly studied personnel are reflected in an operating teamwork flawless in its unruffled perfection. Confusion is unknown,” bragged a brochure for the restaurant. “Tight as the bark on a tree,” one former employee [put it](. She only revealed the story in the 1970s, telling the Boston Herald-American that she wanted a new alternative to a thin butterscotch nut cookie served with ice cream. She methodically tried different ideas until she finally “worked out the recipe on the way back from a trip to Egypt,” then came home and took an ice pick to a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar and added the pieces to brown-sugar cookie dough. Nestlé paid Wakefield a dollar to put the recipe on the label (though they did employ her as a consultant) and sales took off. At first the company included a chopper to make the chips, but soon concocted [the “morsels”]( that have come to define what a chocolate chip looks like. Sponsored by Blockchains, LLC You always wanted to change the world. --------------------------------------------------------------- Did you do it or did the world end up changing you? It's time to break away from the status quo and make new systems, new security, and new interactions. We can create a world that makes everything we do work better, using the blockchain.[Are you ready to change the world?]( Fun Fact! Because greasy butter and chocolate would damage Cookie Monster’s fur, his cookies are [actually]( rice cakes painted to resemble the real deal. A toll we'll gladly pay --------------------------------------------------------------- Anyone who has purchased a yellow bag of chocolate chips knows that they’re not just Nestlé brand, but Nestlé® Toll House®, with the [Toll House logo]( taking up more valuable real estate on the package than Nestle’s. You may have already guessed that Toll House was the name of the Wakefields’ famous restaurant—the Toll House Inn, to be exact, which sat on a former toll road. Chocolate chip cookies were far from Toll House’s only claim to fame. Several former employees recalled that Ruth’s butterscotch-pecan biscuits were just as—if not more—popular than her “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie,” as the chocolate chip cookie was originally called. And Duncan Hines listed her Indian pudding as one of his 12 all-time favorite restaurant dishes. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. frequented the establishment for its Boston cream pies, and he sent the restaurant’s brownies to future president JFK while he was in the Navy. The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book also [cites]( Bette Davis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cole Porter and Joe DiMaggio as Toll House fans. Sadly, Toll House is no longer; it burned down in 1984 during a New Year’s Eve party. But if you’re feeling nostalgic, you can drop by the [Wendy’s]( that has taken its place and view a wall of Toll House memorabilia and clippings. Quotable “My grandmother said she got the recipe from her grandmother, Nesele Toulouse.” —Phoebe Buffay, Friends, “[The One With Phoebe’s Cookies]( Treats for troops War! What is it good for? (Cookies.) --------------------------------------------------------------- No one is disputing that chocolate chip cookies are beloved by nearly everyone who has ever eaten one (or six). But what makes them any more so than snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, gingersnaps, or other varieties that have been around longer? WWII. Chowhound [reports]( that because the chocolate chip cookie was so strongly associated with Massachusetts, Bay Staters shipped them off to their stationed troops to remind them of home. As the cookies were shared with fellow soldiers, their popularity grew—and so did the demand for folks back home to bake them. They were such a boost for the troops that Nestle ran a dual-purpose ad, apologizing for the chocolate shortage, but also asking bakers to use any chocolate chip stashes they may have to bake batches of cookies to send overseas. As with other consumer goods and trends—Coca Cola, Spam, even [tiki bars]( drove up demand for these items when they returned home, craving a taste of the treats they had become accustomed to during their tours of duty. Person of interest The curious story of Famous Amos --------------------------------------------------------------- The other name associated with the treat is a real person—Wally Amos, who turned lemons into cookie dough when he hit a rough career patch. A William Morris talent agent who signed Simon and Garfunkel and repped the Supremes, [he started with a stand on Sunset Boulevard]( (with backing from Marvin Gaye). Pop quiz To attract guests into the bakery on Main Street, Walt Disney parks waft artificial chocolate chip cookie scent using a machine called... The AromatronThe SmellitzerThe OdorobotThe Tantalizer Correct. Developed by Imagineers, the Smellitzer is at least partially responsible for tempting park-goers with artificial scents of very real treats, from popcorn to baked goods. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Million-Dollar Question Why don’t chocolate chips melt when they’re baked? --------------------------------------------------------------- When you bake chocolate chip cookies in the oven, the dough, of course, flattens—morphing from a rounded sphere to a disc. The chocolate chips, however, largely remain unchanged. We know that chocolate is highly susceptible to melting in the heat, so what black magic prevents them from liquifying in a 350-degree oven? There are a couple of factors at play here, but according to [Cook’s Illustrated]( the sorcery can mostly be chalked up to one thing: chips are formulated with less cocoa butter than a typical chocolate bar, and remain firmer during baking. If you chop up a bar of chocolate—a method many chefs say is far superior to pre-bagged chips—you’ll get an ooier, gooier result. Watch this! The science of chocolate chip cookies --------------------------------------------------------------- Don’t leave your cookie to chance. Whether you prefer a thin and crispy cookie, a cakey version stuffed with chips, or something in between, you can use science to achieve the perfect texture. Check out the video, and then [read up]( on what NPR discovered about the science behind the sweet. take me down this 🍪hole! If you’re intrigued by those other Toll House recipes that were reportedly even better than the chocolate chip cookie, you’re in luck. [Openlibrary.org]( has Ruth Wakefield’s 1940 Toll House Tried and True cookbook, so you can bake to your heart’s content. Let us know if you need our PO Box number. poll Do you like your chocolate chip cookies... [Click here to vote]( Soft and chewyCrisp and crunchy 💬Let's talk! 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