Meet the woman who invented the chocolate chip cookie

I have to admit, I was blown away to read the true story of how Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie. I had heard and believed the standard stories: that it was either an emergency substitution born of desperation, and that Wakefield thought the chocolate would melt in the batter and create a chocolate cookie. But the truth is much more amazing. Frankly, Wakefield deserves better.

Wakefield and her husband ran the Toll House, "one of Massachusetts' most beloved restaurants," in the 1920s. They ran the restaurant with exacting, military precision. Everything was spelled out to the letter, including the distance of silverware from the edge of the table (exactly one thumbprint).

Not only was Ruth Wakefield a smart cookie (sorry) she also had a college degree in culinary arts. Wakefield set out to design a better cookie, and darned if she didn't do it.

The Wakefields had been serving a butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream as a dessert. Wakefield wanted something a little different. She was a "gifted cook and a shrewd entrepreneur," and she knew that inventing her own unique signature cookie would bring prestige to the restaurant - and put customers in the seats.

When her cookie took off, Wakefield handed out the recipe for free to customers. She then sold the rights to the recipe to Nestle for a tidy sum, with the stipulation that they keep her restaurant's name in the title.

The next time you eat a chocolate chip cookie, thank Ruth Wakefield. Her story may have been diminished and changed over the years, but Ruth got the last laugh. She signed a lucrative deal with Nestle which ensured that the name of her beloved restaurant would live on through the ages, as the famous recipe for Toll House Cookies on the back of the package.

Image courtesy Flickr/fritish