The Story Behind Nestlé Toll House Cookies 🍪

There’s just something about a chocolate chip cookie.

I think most of us have a memory tied to them—coming home from school and smelling cookies baking, sneaking one off the cooling rack, or watching somebody in your family make a batch from scratch.

That was not my childhood. 😂

My mom didn’t bake. She didn’t even really cook. I learned how to cook by reading the directions on the back of the package. So when I say I appreciate a recipe that tells me exactly what to do, I mean it.

And that’s part of why I love the story behind the Nestlé Toll House cookie.

Back in 1939, Ruth Wakefield owned the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts. While making a batch of cookies, she decided to add pieces of Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate to the dough. She expected the chocolate to melt into the cookies.

It didn’t.

Instead, the chocolate pieces stayed mostly intact while becoming soft and creamy inside the cookie. And apparently, that little baking accident was a pretty good idea—because the chocolate chip cookie was born.

Ruth called her creation the Toll House Crunch Cookie, and after the recipe was published in a Boston newspaper, it took off. Eventually, the recipe became the classic Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe so many of us know today.

And more than 80 years later, people are still making them.

Which I think is pretty impressive for a cookie that started because somebody thought the chocolate was going to melt and it decided, “Nah, I’m good.” 😂

So today, we’re going back to the original and making Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.

No family recipe passed down through generations. No childhood memories of watching Mom bake.

Just me, a recipe, and the directions—basically the same way I learned to cook in the first place. 😂

But I’m not stopping there.

I’ve made a LOT of chocolate chip cookies over the years, and I want to know something: Is the original Nestlé Toll House recipe actually the best?

So we’re going to put it up against some other chocolate chip cookie recipes and see which one comes out on top.

Because there’s only one way to settle an argument like this…

We’re going to eat cookies. 🍪

I’m not telling you if this one wins because, honestly, I have no idea yet. 😂

I’m going to put the original Nestlé Toll House cookie up against some other chocolate chip cookie recipes and see which one I actually like best.

Will the original still hold up after more than 80 years?

I guess we’re going to have to bake a whole lot of cookies to find out. And honestly, I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon. 🍪