Fascinating
facts about the invention of
Toll House Cookies by Ruth
Wakefield in 1930. |
TOLL
HOUSE® COOKIES |
|
| Back
in 1930, Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield purchased a Cape Cod-style toll house located halfway
between Boston and New Bedford, on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts. Originally
constructed in 1709, the house served as a haven for road-weary travelers.. |
 |
Here,
passengers paid tolls, changed horses, and ate much-welcomed home-cooked meals. It was also
here, over 200 years later, that the Wakefield decided to open a lodge, calling it the
Toll House Inn. In keeping with the tradition of creating delicious homemade meals, Ruth
baked for guests who stayed at the Toll House Inn. |
| As she improved upon
traditional Colonial recipes, Ruth's incredible desserts began attracting people from all
over New England. One day, while preparing a batch of Butter Drop Do cookies, a favorite
recipe dating back to Colonial days, Ruth cut a bar of our Nestlé Semi-Sweet Chocolate
into tiny bits and added them to her dough, expecting them to melt. Instead, the chocolate
held its shape and softened to a delicately creamy texture. The resulting creation became
very popular at the Inn. Soon, Ruth's recipe was published in a Boston newspaper, as well
as other papers in the New England area. Regional sales of Nestlé Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Bar skyrocketed. |
 |
Ruth
eventually approached Nestlé and together, they reached an agreement that allowed Nestle
to print what would become the Toll House Cookie recipe on the wrapper of the Semi-Sweet
Chocolate Bar. Part of this agreement included supplying Ruth with all of the chocolate
she could use to make her delicious cookies for the rest of her life. |
| As the popularity of the
Toll House cookie continued to grow Nestle looked for ways to make it easier for people to
bake. Soon, they began scoring the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, and packaged it with a
special chopper for easily cutting it into small morsels. Shortly after, in 1939, they
began offering tiny pieces of chocolate in convenient, ready-to-use packages and that is
how the first Nestlé Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels were introduced. |
TO LEARN MORE
RELATED INFORMATION:
Inventor Profile,
Henri Nestle from
The Great Idea Finder
History of Snacks and
Food
from The Great Idea Finder
ON THE BOOKSHELF:
Mistakes
That Worked
by Charlotte Foltz Jones, John O'Brien (Illustrator) / Paperback - 48
pages (1994) / Doubleday
Recounting the fascinating stories behind the accidental inventions of forty
familiar objects and products.
Girls
Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women
by Catherine Thimmesh, Melissa Sweet (ill.) / Hardcover - 64 pages (2000) /
Houghton Mifflin
A dozen women are profiled in this collection of short, anecdotal biographies
demonstrating that necessity, ingenuity, and luck all play a part in successful
inventions. The final section tells girls how to patent their inventions, and an informed
bibliography.
Toll House Tried
and True Recipes
Ruth Graves Wakefield / Paperback - 376 pages / Dover Press - 1977
Cookie recipes from Ruth Wakefield herself.
The All-American Cookie Book
by Nancy Baggett / Hardcover: 400 pages / Houghton Mifflin Co; (November 1, 2001)
Every American cookie you can think of is here--more than 150 of them--from luscious Black
Bottom Mini Brownie Cups and chewy Chocolate Thumbprint Crackles to Classic Chocolate Chip
Cookies.
ON THE SCREEN:
Cookies
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / 76488 / Less than $25.00
In the 1930s, the nation made its greatest contribution to cookie
culture with the masterpiece known as chocolate chip, but we also
invented the peanut butter cookie and, perhaps surprisingly, the fortune
cookie. From plates left out for Santa to the Keebler elves and beyond,
join us for a sweet hour as we get out our rolling pins for the history
of cookies.
ON THE WEB:
Invention Dimension -
Inventor of the Week
Celebrates inventor/innovator role models through outreach activities and annual
awards to inspire a new generation of American scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
Featured Ruth Wake field for her invention of the Chocolate Chip Cookie.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/wakefield.html)
Nestle Toll House Cookies
Everything you ever needed to know about Nestle Toll House Cookies.
Ruth eventually approached Nestlé and together, we reached an agreement that
allowed us to print what would become the Toll House Cookie recipe on the wrapper of our
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar.
(URL: www.verybestbaking.com/products/tollhouse/history.aspx)
Official Nestle
Web Site
Is it Nestle Toll House Cookies or Wakefield cookies at this Nestle company site.
(URL: www.nestle.com)
History of
Chocolate
The story of chocolate, as far back as we know it, begins with the discovery of America.
Until 1492,
the Old World knew nothing at all about the delicious and stimulating flavor that was to
become the
favorite of millions.
(URL:
www.candyusa.org/Chocolate/history.asp)
Chocolate
at the Thinking Fountain
This is the place to learn about chocolate and see what other kids think about chocolate
at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
(URL: www.sci.mus.mn.us/sln/tf/c/chocolate/chocolate.html)
Toll
House Cookie Recipe
This is one of those few recipes that seem to be just about right, and real hard to
improve on.
(URL: www.premiersystems.com/recipes/desserts/cookie-chip.html)
DID YOU KNOW?:
- You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime!
- Part of the agreement between Nestle
and Wakefield included supplying Ruth with all of the chocolate she
could use to make her delicious cookies for the rest of her life.
|
|
Nestle and Tool House
are trademarks of Société des Produits NESTLÉ S.A. |
| Reference
Sources in BOLD Type |
This page revised May 2, 2005. |
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