FAQs
Sometime in the 1930s Wakefield came up with the recipe for chocolate chip cookies. She chopped a Nestlé semisweet chocolate bar into small pieces and dropped them into a cookie batter. The chocolate remained in chunks and did not melt. She called it the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.
How old was Ruth Graves Wakefield when she died? ›
Death. Ruth retired in 1966 and sold the Toll House, which later burned down in 1984. Ruth died on January 10, 1977, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the age of 73.
What was Ruth Wakefield trying to make when she made chocolate chip cookies? ›
Even Wakefield herself said that she had always intended to create a new recipe. "We had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream," she told the Boston Herald-American in 1974. "Everybody seemed to love it, but I was trying to give them something different. So I came up with Toll House cookie."
What did Ruth Wakefield go to college for? ›
Wakefield was born in Massachusetts in 1903. She went to college at what is now Framingham State University, getting her degree in Household Arts.
How much did Ruth Wakefield sell her recipe for? ›
In 1939, Wakefield sold Nestlé the rights to reproduce her recipe on its packages (supposedly for only $1) and was hired to consult on recipes for the company, which was said to have provided her free chocolate for life.
Why is Ruth Wakefield famous? ›
The chocolate chip cookie (toll house cookie) was first invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield (1903-1977). She was a trained dietitian who ran the kitchen of the Massachusetts inn she and her husband operated.
Who invented the chocolate chip cookie? ›
The most notable chocolate chip cookie recipe was invented by American chef Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938. She invented the recipe during the period when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts.
Where did Toll House cookies originate? ›
It all started back in 1939. Ruth Wakefield, who ran the successful Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, was mixing a batch of cookies when she decided to add broken pieces of Nestlé Semi-Sweet chocolate into the recipe expecting the chocolate to melt.
How many siblings did Ruth Wakefield have? ›
THE FAMILY
Ruth Wakefield had 6 kids, Ruth had 2 siblings, Father married 2 times because Ruth's mom died, Her parents names were Helen, and Fred.
How much did toll house cookies cost in 1939? ›
Perhaps the more realistic story is that Wakefield created the Chocolate Chip Cookie “by dint of training, talent, and hard work”, knowing that the combination of these ingredients would live on as an American classic. In 1939, Wakefield sold Nestlé the rights to reprint her cookie recipe on their packages for $1.
Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.
How big was the largest cookie ever baked? ›
It measured over 102 feet in diameter and weighed more than 40,000 pounds!
When did the Toll House burn down? ›
Wakefield wrote a cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, that went through 39 printings. Wakefield died in 1977, and the Toll House Inn burned down from a fire that started in the kitchen on New Year's Eve 1984.
When did they introduce premade chocolate chip cookie dough? ›
In the nineteen-fifties, both Nestlé and Pillsbury began selling refrigerated chocolate-chip-cookie dough in supermarkets.
What college did Ruth go to? ›
What is Baby Ruth candy made of? ›
Baby Ruth is an American candy bar made of peanuts, caramel, and milk chocolate-flavored nougat, covered in compound chocolate.
How much did Toll House cookies cost in 1939? ›
Perhaps the more realistic story is that Wakefield created the Chocolate Chip Cookie “by dint of training, talent, and hard work”, knowing that the combination of these ingredients would live on as an American classic. In 1939, Wakefield sold Nestlé the rights to reprint her cookie recipe on their packages for $1.
Why is it called a Toll House cookie? ›
Ruth's recipe became instantly popular when it was published in a Boston-area paper, named after the Toll House Inn restaurant that she owned with her husband in Whitman, Massachusett. The current name didn't come about until Nestlé turned her inventive idea into something much bigger.
What happened to Nestlé Toll House? ›
Frisco, Texas, U.S. In May 2022, it was announced Nestlé Toll House Café has been acquired by the California-headquartered restaurant franchising company, FAT Brands for an undisclosed sum.
Ruth Wakefield was a U.S. cook who developed the first recipe for the chocolate chip cookie. She ran a popular restaurant with her husband and developed many of the recipes herself. Her work that led to her chocolate chip cookie recipe resulted in the creation of one of the most popular cookies in the world.
The Toll House Inn became popular for its menu. Many of the items Wakefield created herself. In 1931 she released a cookbook, Ruth Wakefield’s Tried and True Recipes. Sometime in the 1930s Wakefield came up with the recipe for chocolate chip cookies. She chopped a Nestlé semisweet chocolate bar into small pieces and dropped them into a cookie batter. The chocolate remained in chunks and did not melt. She called it the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie. The recipe appeared in a later edition of her cookbook and was printed in a Boston newspaper. In 1939 Wakefield sold Nestlé the rights to print the recipe on its packages. Soon the company was producing the Nestlé Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. They eventually became known as chocolate chips. The cookie’s popularity grew during World War II (1939–45) when soldiers from Massachusetts shared their care packages from home.
