The Toll House Cookie - Legend and Chocolate
VAV!/June 17, 2013
Don't take your Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies for granted anymore. Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, never did...they're the duo who came up with the idea for the sweet cookie treats!
Here's how the story unfolds:
In 1930, Ruth and her husband, Kenneth Wakefield, purchased a Cape Cod-style toll house located in Whitman, Massachusetts, just halfway between Beantown and New Bedford, MA. The Wakefield's house had been built in 1709, and originally served as a way stop for toll paying travelers who stopped for a change of horses and a hearty home-cooked meal.
After the purchase of their home, the Wakefields once again transformed the home into an inn and named it the Toll House Inn. The Inn became famously popular with travelers and was particularly noted for Ruth's delicious home cooked meals.
Ruth's Butter Drop Do cookies were unforgettable too,...but little did she dream, with a twist on the usual recipe, these treats would one day become iconic. As Ruth prepared the cookies one particular day, she found she had run out of baker's chocolate. To substitute, Ruth added a semi-sweet chocolate bar (given to her by Andrew Nestle), by cutting it into tiny morsels, and adding the concoction to the cookie dough. Voila! The semi-sweet chocolate did not melt, but maintained a softend consistency and proved to be delicious.
