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Ruth Graves Wakefield

by Eric from Leawood

(1903-1977) Ruth Graves Wakefield is the inventor of chocolate chip cookies and a hero to many cookie lovers including me. She invented these loved cookies trying to make chocolate cookies. She didn’t have any cocoa so she broke apart a chocolate bar thinking that it would melt into the cookie, but it stayed in place while staying delicious. A cookie flavor was born.

Toll House chocolate chip cookies (http://webpages.shepherd.edu/ECOLLI02/Webquest.html)
Toll House chocolate chip cookies (http://webpages.shepherd.edu/ECOLLI02/Webquest.html)

Ruth opened the Toll House Inn which was famous for the lobster dinners and cookies for desert. She was a home economics teacher until 1930. Then the chocolate chip cookie was created, and she didn’t need that job as a teacher any more. Nestle started selling semisweet chocolate bars, then with cut-up chunks and finally chocolate chips all thanks to her. Eventually Toll House and Nestle met and agreed to put the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips bag. After that, Nestle bought Toll House and everyone lived a little more happily, until 1977 when Ruth died. Luckily the cookie recipe is still around so if you aren’t allergic to anything in a chocolate chip cookie and you’ve never tried one then you should.

Page created on 9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM

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