Chipping In: The Iconic Nestlé Morsel

Food, History, Recipes
on November 17, 2014
Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Chocolate Chips, the iconic flat-bottomed morsels baked in cookies and other desserts, are so engrained in American culture that it’s hard to imagine a time when the ubiquitous bites didn’t exist. But it wasn’t until the 1930s that Ruth Graves Wakefield, the owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., created the tasty morsels by accident: She chopped a Nestlé chocolate bar and stirred it into a batch of cookies, expecting the chocolate bits to melt, lava-like, in the oven. But the chocolate softened and remained semi-solid instead. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sweet Stats

  • 1.2 million Number of social media “likes” on the Nestlé Toll House Facebook page
  • 3 to 1 Number of Americans who prefer chocolate chip cookies over other cookie types, according to a 2009 survey
  • 53 Percent of American adults that claim chocolate chip as their favorite

Today, Nestlé Toll House Morsels are sold in traditional semi-sweet, dark chocolate, premier white, butterscotch, milk chocolate, mint, mini and new DelightFulls filled morsels.

Timeline

  • Circa 1930 Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., invents the chocolate chip cookie.
  • 1936 Wakefield’s recipe for Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies appears in newspapers throughout Boston and New England, as well as in her cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes.
  • 1939 Nestlé begins scoring its semi-sweet chocolate bars into 160 pieces for baking convenience, and packages them with Wakefield’s recipe on the package.
  • 1939 Nestlé officially introduces the Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsel.
  • 1940 Gold Medal Flour bags feature the Nestlé Toll House cookie recipe.
  • 1940s Thousands of Toll House cookies are shipped to American soldiers overseas.
  • 1980 Nestlé produces over 350 million Toll House Morsels per day.
  • 1997 The chocolate chip cookie is designated as the official cookie of the state of Massachusetts, in honor of the Toll House Inn’s location in Whitman.
  • 2000 The TV sitcom Friends airs an episode in which Monica (Courtney Cox) searches for a lost secret family recipe, which she finds to be for Nestlé Toll House cookies.
  • 2014 Nestlé celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Toll House Morsel.

Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups Nestlé Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 375° f.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Serves 60

Nutritional facts per serving: 110 calories, 7g fat, 15mg cholesterol, 2g protein, 14g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 85mg sodium

—Recipe courtesy of Nestlé USA, verybestbaking.com

Found in: Food, History, Recipes