Massachusetts claims a lot of “firsts” in our country: the first Thanksgiving, the first World Series, the first American university and the very first modern day chocolate chip cookie. It was created at the Toll House Inn in Whitman in 1938. Ruth Graves Wakefield owned the inn, and her right-hand lady in the kitchen was Sue Brides. “She baked all day long. I used to throw stuff out because she baked so much,” said Brides’ daughter, Peg. The story goes that Brides and Wakefield created the cookie by accident when they ran out of baking chocolate and grabbed some chocolate pieces to fill the void. That’s not true, according to Carolyn Wyman, author of The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book. “She (Wakefield) came up with this idea coming back on an airplane from Egypt,” Wyman said. “She had been serving a butterscotch nut cookie, it just was a little extra you put on the side of the dish, and she just thought it was popular but maybe she can push it a little further, do something a little more interesting with it.” “Up until that point when she invented this, chocolate was used in desserts but it always was used melted, and she actually in one interview said she had done some chocolate experiments at college,” Wyman said Wyman. Wakefield credited Brides with helping her make the famous chocolate chip cookie. Brides passed on everything she knew to Peg, but that knowledge hasn’t exactly been shared until now. “Two and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour, is that right?” asked NewsCenter 5’s Maria Stephanos. “No,” Peg said. She said the original recipe is not what you find on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip bags. “I use King Arthur Flour, all-purpose,” Peg told Stephanos. And it’s more than the well-known version of the recipe. Peg also said to use less baking soda than the recipe calls for. And then the surprise came. “Two sticks of butter. Unsalted or salted?,” asked Stephanos. But Peg doesn’t use butter. “I use Crisco,” Peg said. A cup and a half, to be precise. The original recipe, according to Peg, also uses different measurements and combinations of ingredients, including three eggs instead of two. And what about salt? “If I forget it, it doesn’t make any difference.” The recipe passed down to Peg also mentions “1 ½ hot water.” Peg explains, “You dissolve the (baking) soda in it.” Peg worked at the Toll House Inn and has fond memories of shipping out the cookies. “All during the war, we sent them all over the world (to the troops). That was one of our jobs. People would order them – three dozen – but we always packed 40 in case any broke.” One more secret: Peg said her mother Sue would write some of her recipes backwards and you would have to hold them up to a mirror to decode them. The original Toll House cookie recipe, according to Peg:1 1/2 cups of shortening1 1/8 cups of sugar1 1/8 cups of brown sugar3 eggs1 1/2 teaspoon of salt3 1/8 cups of flour (Peg prefers King Arthur all purpose)1 ½ teaspoon of hot water1 ½ teaspoon of baking sodaChocolate chips (and walnuts) Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes
WHITMAN, Mass. —
Massachusetts claims a lot of “firsts” in our country: the first Thanksgiving, the first World Series, the first American university and the very first modern day chocolate chip cookie. It was created at the Toll House Inn in Whitman in 1938.
Ruth Graves Wakefield owned the inn, and her right-hand lady in the kitchen was Sue Brides.
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“She baked all day long. I used to throw stuff out because she baked so much,” said Brides’ daughter, Peg.
The story goes that Brides and Wakefield created the cookie by accident when they ran out of baking chocolate and grabbed some chocolate pieces to fill the void.
That’s not true, according to Carolyn Wyman, author of The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book.
“She (Wakefield) came up with this idea coming back on an airplane from Egypt,” Wyman said. “She had been serving a butterscotch nut cookie, it just was a little extra you put on the side of the dish, and she just thought it was popular but maybe she can push it a little further, do something a little more interesting with it.”
“Up until that point when she invented this, chocolate was used in desserts but it always was used melted, and she actually in one interview said she had done some chocolate experiments at college,” Wyman said Wyman.
Wakefield credited Brides with helping her make the famous chocolate chip cookie.
Brides passed on everything she knew to Peg, but that knowledge hasn’t exactly been shared until now.
“Two and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour, is that right?” asked NewsCenter 5’s Maria Stephanos.
“No,” Peg said. She said the original recipe is not what you find on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip bags.
“I use King Arthur Flour, all-purpose,” Peg told Stephanos. And it’s more than the well-known version of the recipe.
Peg also said to use less baking soda than the recipe calls for.
And then the surprise came.
“Two sticks of butter. Unsalted or salted?,” asked Stephanos. But Peg doesn’t use butter.
“I use Crisco,” Peg said. A cup and a half, to be precise.
The original recipe, according to Peg, also uses different measurements and combinations of ingredients, including three eggs instead of two.
And what about salt?
“If I forget it, it doesn’t make any difference.”
The recipe passed down to Peg also mentions “1 ½ hot water.” Peg explains, “You dissolve the (baking) soda in it.”
Peg worked at the Toll House Inn and has fond memories of shipping out the cookies.
“All during the war, we sent them all over the world (to the troops). That was one of our jobs. People would order them – three dozen – but we always packed 40 in case any broke.”
One more secret: Peg said her mother Sue would write some of her recipes backwards and you would have to hold them up to a mirror to decode them.
The original Toll House cookie recipe, according to Peg:
- 1 1/2 cups of shortening
- 1 1/8 cups of sugar
- 1 1/8 cups of brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 3 1/8 cups of flour (Peg prefers King Arthur all purpose)
- 1 ½ teaspoon of hot water
- 1 ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- Chocolate chips (and walnuts)
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes
