Chocolate Chip Cookies Are All I Need

“. . . a dozen…chocolate chip cookies…a pot of coffee, and a good book are all I will need for the rainy weekend rolling in.”

– Adriana Trigiani

Hmmm. . . . chocolate chip cookies. The name brings warm smells of gooey chocolate to my nose.

My Grandma Hechler made the BEST chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes she would put M&Ms in them. Sometimes she would put pecans. (Those were my all-time favorites.)

Years later, after she passed away and her recipes went missing (don't get me started . . .) I tried recipe after recipe to try and find the one she used. None of them tasted quite the same, and so my search continued far and wide and over and around.

And then one day, of all things, I tried the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse cookie bag.

Voila! I am pretty darn certain that was the one she used. They tasted the same. They smelled the same. I had found cookie heaven once more!

Not too long ago one of my boys (they are approaching 24) asked if I would make those cookies for him. I need to that again. Nothing quite tastes homemade like those chocolate chip cookies. Nothing makes a house smell quite so homey. (There’s a reason you can find chocolate chip cookie candles and soy melts!)

So, just when did all this gooey goodness start?

Chocolate chip cookies were created in 1938 when Ruth Graves Wakefield chopped up a Nestle semi-sweet chocolate bar and added it to a cookie recipe. At the time, Wakefield and Sue Brides owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. This was a popular restaurant at the time that featured home cooking. In Wakefield’s own words: “We had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream. Everybody seemed to love it, but I was trying to give them something different. So, I came up with Toll House cookie.” Wakefield gave Nestle the recipe for the cookie and was paid with a lifetime supply of chocolate from the company.

During World War II, soldiers from Massachusetts stationed overseas shared the cookies they received in care packages from home. Soldiers from all over the country wrote home asking their families to send them Toll House cookies, and Wakefield received letters from around the world requesting her recipe. By 1956, chocolate chip cookies were even being sold in Great Britain.

The cookie generally starts with cough composed of flour, butter, brown and white sugars, the semi-sweet chocolate chips, eggs, and vanilla. After that, variations have been created and built upon over the years. There are even vegan and gluten-free variations. Double and triple chocolate chip cookies are made with added chocolate or cocoa powder to the dough.

I won’t bore you with all those though. I will just share the recipe for the plain old goodness of a plain old chocolate chip cookie (because sometimes plain brings the best memories).

As always, you can right click on the recipe card and save it to your phone or laptop, you can make the cookies while looking at it or print the recipe up and add it to your recipe book.

Enjoy! And Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!