Coastin Carl
👩🍳 CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Week ORIGIN & HISTORY
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Week celebrates the simple joy of biting into a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie and savoring its comforting flavors the 1st full week in March. A delightful occasion dedicated to indulging in one of the most beloved treats – chocolate chip cookies! During this week, people bake, share, and enjoy these delicious cookies, from classic recipes to inventive twists.
The Toll House Inn
In 1930, Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband bought a tourist lodge called the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. As a talented chef, Ruth prepared all the food for the guests herself.
The Accidental Invention
One day in 1937, while making a batch of Butter Drop Do cookies (her own recipe similar to chocolate cookies), Ruth found herself without the necessary baker’s chocolate. In a moment of inspiration, or perhaps by accident, Ruth substituted semi-sweet chocolate pieces made by cutting up a Nestle chocolate bar instead. Unlike baking chocolate, the chopped pieces didn’t fully incorporate into the dough. The result was a cookie loaded with chocolate morsels that held their distinctive shape and texture.
An Instant Hit
The new creation was a massive hit with guests at the inn. Ruth called them “Toll House Crunch Cookies” and they quickly gained popularity through word-of-mouth and by being mentioned in a Boston newspaper.
The Business Deal
Realizing their potential, Ruth struck a deal in 1939 with Nestle to print her recipe on their semi-sweet chocolate bar labels, becoming one of the first examples of product branding on food packaging.
Commercialization and Legacy
Nestle began manufacturing and selling the chocolate morsels specifically for baking under the named “Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels” in 1939. The Wakefield/Toll House recipe boosted sales for Nestle immensely over time, and the two names “Toll House Cookies” and “Chocolate Chip Cookies” became ingrained in American culture and baking.
So what started as a creative baking swap by Ruth Wakefield at her Massachusetts inn became an accidental invention that forever changed cookies and led to the iconic, beloved chocolate chip cookie.
💙 RAISE Social Awareness
Use social media posts with the hashtags #NationalChocolateChipCookieWeek, #ChocolateChipCookies, #CookieTime, #BakingLove, #Cookies, #FoodHolidays, #MarchHolidays, #Holiday, #FindADayToLOVE, #iHEARTdays to support the importance of celebrating, promoting, and sharing with the world why you ❤️ CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Week.
Future DATES for CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE Week
| Year | Dates |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Week of March 3 |
| 2025 | Week of March 2 |
| 2026 | Week of March 1 |
| 2027 | Week of March 7 |
| 2028 | Week of March 5 |
