Ruth Wakefield was a dietician who invented the chocolate chip cookie, which makes them healthy and just fine to eat in bunches, right?
Born in 1903, Ruth graduated from Framington State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. She taught home economics, gave lectures on food and cooking, and worked as a hospital dietician until she got married in 1926. Four years later she and her husband Kenneth bought the Toll House Inn, a tourist lodge in northeast Massachusetts.
The Wakefields established the inn as a restaurant, and Ruth cooked all the food. She was known for lobster dishes and desserts, many from recipes she inherited from her grandmother.
In 1931, Ruth published her first cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, with updated recipes and new dishes Ruth developed for the restaurant.
But it was one simple dessert that sealed Wakefield’s place in the comfort food hall of fame: the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.
It was 1938, and Ruth was experimenting with adding a little something to her brown sugar cookie recipe. She took an ice pick to a Nestle chocolate bar, reducing it to chips that she mixed with the batter. The idea was that the chips would melt during baking, turning the cookies chocolate.
Ruth, however, pushed back against the idea that her famous invention was nothing more than a happy accident. She insisted that the chipped chocolate was a purposeful addition designed to make a customer favorite even better. Either way, the Toll House cookie was born.
Nestle came knocking soon after. Ruth agreed to sell her recipe to the chocolate company for $1; in return, Nestle agreed to print Ruth’s cookie recipe on its packages and to provide her with chocolate for life. They also hired her as a recipe consultant.
Today, the chocolate chip cookie is the most popular cookie of all time, with Nestle selling approximately 90 billion chocolate chips a year. Ruth and Kenneth sold the Toll House Inn in 1967, and Ruth died 10 years later.
While she did give up her recipe, Ruth saved a secret tip exclusively for her readers in the 1939 edition of her Toll House cookbook: refrigerate the dough overnight and not only won’t your cookies spread when they bake, the flavor will be deeper and sweeter.
Thanks, Ruth. You’re the best.