Born in the USA
Was it serendipity or divine intervention? We will never know for sure in the case of the chocolate chip cookie. Legend has it that in 1930, Ruth Graves Wakefield, the owner of the Tollhouse Inn in Whitman Massachusetts stumbled upon this divine cookie innovation while making her regular chocolate butter cookie. She had run out of her baker’s chocolate that melted at low temperatures. Her solution was to substitute pieces of Nestle semisweet chocolate in hopes that it would melt. However, the chocolate remained solid and marvelously the chocolate chip cookie was born.
Another variation of the folklore says that Ruth was making her standard butter cookies in a big Hobart mixer and the vibration caused chocolate bars on the shelf above to fall in and the blade of the mixer broke the chocolate into small pieces. However you mix it, the cookie icon was created and has been adored as a superstar dessert ever since.
This makes chocolate chip cookies more American than apple pie. Apple pie can be traced back to 14thcentury England, so why are we experiencing this identity crisis? This is our star spangled cookie, and the saying should be, “As American as the Chocolate Chip Cookie”.
Truth be told, they are addictive and Americans simply cannot get enough of them. The chocolate chip is produced by every cookie company and available in malls supermarkets and bakeries every day. What could be better than brown sugar cookie dough as the vehicle that supports the dense chocolaty chips?
Originally Ruth called the creation “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie”. Her name for her baby reflects how crunchy cookies were once the rage. Right now Americans desire a moister, softer cookie. Everyone has their own unique twist on the chocolate chip. The Chocolate Goddess version is so divine; it is named after the goddess Isis.
In the days to follow see The Chocolate Goddess blog for the story of Goddess Isis and the goddess version of the Chocolate Chip Cookie.
-Barbara Esatto, The Chocolate Goddess