TIL that the first chocolate chip cookie was a total accident

I was reading an old baking history book from the library and found out the chocolate chip cookie was invented by Ruth Wakefield in 1938. She ran the Toll House Inn and was trying to make chocolate cookies, but she was out of baker's chocolate. So she just chopped up a bar of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate, thinking it would melt into the dough. It didn't, and the chocolate chips stayed whole. She called them 'Toll House Crunch Cookies' and they became a huge hit. I always thought it was a planned recipe. It's funny to think one of the most popular cookies ever started as a simple kitchen shortcut that went differently than planned. Has anyone else had a happy accident in baking that turned out better than what you meant to make?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordanhill21d ago

Wait, she just had a Nestle chocolate bar lying around? That's the part that gets me. I can't imagine a professional baker not having the right chocolate on hand, but then just grabbing some random candy bar. It's like trying to fix a car with a kitchen tool and accidentally inventing a new engine.

holly_walker7621d ago

But have you ever been in the middle of a bake and realized you're out of something key? @jordanhill, I get it, but pros improvise all the time. A candy bar is just sugar, cocoa, and milk fat. The Toll House story is basically someone using a chocolate bar because that's what was in the house. It's not that weird, it's just how a lot of kitchen accidents happen.

derek65620d ago

Oh man, this reminds me of my buddy who tried to make a birthday cake last minute. He ran out of butter and used mayo, like the whole internet said to do. It actually worked, but it tasted kinda weird and salty. @jordanhill, your car tool thing is spot on, because he basically built a cake engine out of sandwich parts. Sometimes you just use what's in the fridge and pray it doesn't collapse.