Accidental Inventions: A History of Chocolate Chip Cookies

The chocolate chip cookie is one of the most beloved sweet treats for people of all ages in India. Cookie Manufacturers in India would agree that this cookie is one of their best sellers throughout the country. It is, therefore, tough to believe that the chocolate chip cookie, one of the world’s most popular sweet snacks, was created by chance.

Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, were running the Toll House Inn on Route 18 near Whitman, Massachusetts when they invented the chocolate chip cookie in 1930. Mrs. Wakefield, a dietitian and food professor, cooked all of the food for the inn’s guests and had earned an outstanding local reputation for her extensive dessert menu. It’s frequently stated that necessity is the mother of innovation, and this story is no exception.

A Happy Accident

The iconic chocolate chip cookie was inspired by a chance accident at the Toll House Inn owned by Wakefield and her husband. The inn was designed for tired travellers in need of a good night’s sleep and some meals.

Wakefield prepared all of the inn’s meals. One day, in order to meet a sudden requirement, she added chopped-up chunks from a semi-sweet chocolate bar to a batch of delicious cookies. She assumed it would result in solid chocolate cookies. Although this experiment did not go according to plan, but a celebrity was born through this encounter.

A Gift to the World

The recipe for the chocolate chip cookie, formerly known as the “Toll House Crunch Cookie,” was published in a Boston newspaper and immediately became one of America’s favourites. While “Butter Drop Do Cookies” were the original name given to them, Wakefield rechristened them as “Chocolate Chip Cookies” in the trademark yellow pages of her first published cookbook, entitled ‘Toll House Tried and True Recipes’ in 1936.

The creator of the cookie was given a lifelong supply of chocolate in exchange for her recipe. In 1939, the now-ubiquitous teardrop-shaped chocolate chip was finally created after developing on Wakefield’s recipe. Cookie manufacturers in India have given their own twist to this tasty treat.

The Evolution

The original recipe calls for simple, no-frills ingredients, including nuts of your choice. Wakefield is also responsible for Nestle breaking down its classic chocolate bar into smaller pieces (160 in total), making the chocolate easier to work with. These are commonly referred to as “morsels”. Over the years, cookie and biscuit manufacturers in India and other parts world have recreated the chocolate chip cookie in a variety of ways: crispy, soft, thick, thin, with or without nuts.

The first chocolate chip cookie was around the size of a quarter. It was crispy and could be consumed in a single bite. Today, the world’s largest chocolate chip cookie, weighing 40,000 pounds and with a 101 ft diameter, has been created in North Carolina in 2003!

Being one of the top cookie manufacturers in India, we at Anmol Industries bring our humble submission to this legacy through our Hit and Run Cookies. Bite into a delectable Hit & Run cookie and let the occasional chocolate chip dazzle your senses with a flash of chocolatey flavour with every crunch. The premium quality chocolate is sure to put a smile on your face!