Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Updated Sept. 5, 2024

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Liza Jernow.
Total Time
About 30 minutes
Rating
5(3,620)
Comments
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In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie, ran the Toll House Inn, a popular restaurant in eastern Massachusetts, with her husband. Using an ice pick, Wakefield broke a semisweet chocolate bar into little bits, mixed them into brown-sugar dough, and the chocolate chip cookie was born. In 1939, she sold Nestlé the rights to reproduce her recipe on its packages (reportedly for only $1) and was hired to write recipes for the company, which supposedly supplied her with free chocolate for life. This recipe is very close to Mrs. Wakefield's original (hers called for a teaspoon of hot water and ½-teaspoon-sized cookies), and the one you'll still find on the back of every yellow bag of Nestlé chocolate chips.

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Ingredients

Yield:5 dozen
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • 1teaspoon baking soda
  • 1teaspoon salt
  • 1cup butter (2 sticks), softened
  • ¾cup granulated sugar
  • ¾cup packed brown sugar
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2cups/12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1cup chopped nuts (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (60 servings)

107 calories; 6 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 54 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

  2. Step 2

    Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
3,620 user ratings
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Comments

This is not the original recipe. I have an autographed cookbook from 1942. One wrong item are the chocolate chips--she said 14 oz, not 12. My family went to her restaurant many, many times. My sister and I always asked if we could eat in the "tree room". The waitresses wore beautiful dresses. In those days there were many courses of food and no matter how big the group the waitresses were not allowed to write any order--they had to memorize everything.

Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread. Also, the sugar in the dough gradually absorbs liquid. I still include the hot water. I add the baking soda to it so it dissolves, and then add this to the eggs, butter and vanilla mixture.

Flat cookies? Too much butter. Here is the equation for each type of chocolate chip cookie, whatever your preference thin and crisp: 2- 1/2 sticks butter, 1 -1/2 cups granulated, 3/4 cup brown sugar soft and chewy: 2 sticks butter, 1/2 cup granulated, 1 cup brown sugar light and cakey: 1- 3/4 cups butter, 3/4 granulated, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon white vinegar too much baking soda: reduce to 1/2 teaspoon all the other ingredients are OK always refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes

Don’t understand the beauty of the recipe. Mediocre low.

Ruth Wakefield did not invent chocolate chip cookies. This is lore without a factual basis. As researched and described in detail by Stella Parks in her cookbook, BraveTart, recipes for nearly identical cookies were published widely in the 1870s, decades before 1938, when Ms. Wakefield was said to have invented them. So, chocolate chip cookies were popular before she was even born. Unfortunately, even Ruth Wakefield's obituary in the NYT perpetuates this myth.

I've only baked a couple of things. Most of them tasted mid. This is the first recipe I made that I felt turned out really well. Halved ingredients, but will make a full batch sometime to share some.

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