A few weeks ago I talked about THE classic American food: the hamburger. To me that seems like one of the most American things we have that people all around the world have come to love as we do. But I also really wanted to talk about desserts--which American dessert reigns supreme above all others? Naturally, in my head, the dessert that is just perfectly American is apple pie (which, not surprisingly wasn’t actually invented in America—a story for another time), but my heart is going to go with the classic chocolate chip cookie. It just doesn’t get better than a chocolate chip cookie, am I right?


Because I am a little bit of a nerd when it comes to food history, I did a little digging into the origin of the chocolate chip cookie. There’s no question that the inventor of the cookie is Ruth Wakefield, a 33 year old in 1938 who was making a cookie to go with some ice cream in the Toll House restaurant owned by her and her husband. This is where the origin story gets a little murky. Some stories say that she unexpectedly ran out nuts when making her regular ice-cream cookie recipe and in desperation, reached for a bar of Nestle dark chocolate and chopped it into chunks. One story even claims that the vibrations from an industrial mixer knocked chocolate stored right above into the vat of cookie dough mixing below. No matter what the story is, it’s probably the best food ever invented! :)


It did come at a time that was perfect for Americans. This hand held dessert that tasted so comforting a yummy and was pretty cheap to make was perfect for the World War that soon started. The women on the home front were encouraged to bake cookies for “that soldier boy of yours”, as one Nestle ad put it. The actual Toll House restaurant’s gift shop alone shipped out thousands of cookies for soldiers abroad. WWII made quite a difference in popularity for the chocolate chip cookie. Before the war it was pretty much only an East Coast thing, but after, it became popular all over the country. 

Then things really began to take off for the chocolate chip cookie. It started homemade and then became mass produced in factories everywhere. In the 1950’s both Nestle and Pillsbury began selling refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough in supermarkets. Nabisco then launched their Chips Ahoy cookies in 1963. In the 1970’s came the brands Famous Amos, Mrs. Field’s and David’s Cookies, which really began to thrive in the 1980’s. By the end of the 80’s there were over 1200 cookie stands in business across the country.

The first time cookie dough was mixed into ice cream was by Ben and Jerry’s in 1984 when they were left an anonymous note with the idea and the rest is history. It is still one of their best sellers today.

Now let’s talk about the best recipe. I personally typically just use the world famous Nestle Toll House recipe right on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. However, I will admit that I am debating whether I want to make the acclaimed recipe by David Leite for the New York Times in 2008. This is rave reviews and a cult following but I hesitate because I want my cookies just minutes after the dough is mixed. The secret to this recipe is chilling the dough for 36 hours in the fridge for the cookie to get its maximum flavor and texture.

What chocolate chip recipe is your go-to? Have you made the NY Times recipe yet? Do you think it’s worth the fuss? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.