Serendipity is defined as discovering/developing/inventing one thing while trying to discover/develop/invent something else. SerendipiTEA, on this blog, is interesting tidbits about tea and tea-related items I've read about during my research of one of the world's oldest - and my favorite - beverage.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Like to eat cookies with your tea (or just in general)? Well according to Wikipedia sources, there is actually one woman responsible for the first chocolate chip cookie - of the Toll House variety. And, the cookie itself hasn't been around all that long. I can't imagine a world without cookies, but for Ruth Wakefield there was such a time.
Check this out: Ms. Wakefield was a baker and original owner at the Toll House Inn, no longer in existence due to a terrible fire in the 1980s. But during her tenure there, she developed the chocolate chip cookie. According to Ideafinder.com, Ms. Wakefield developed the chocolate chip cookie accidentally while trying to enhance her famous butter drop cookies. She added bits of Nestle chocolate thinking the chocolate would melt and swirl within the batter. But the chips didn't melt; they held their shape. The resulting cookie became highly demanded at the Inn, and sales of the Nestle chocolate bar skyrocketed.
Ms. Wakefield was a smart cookie herself. She approached Nestle and eventually reached a deal. Nestle printed her recipe on the chocolate bar and supplied Ms. Wakefield with - get this! - chocolate for life so she could continue baking the Toll House cookies. What a sweet deal!
Eventually Nestle begin developing the candy bar to be more user-friendly - easier to score, and even sold the bar with a tool to make chopping the bar easier. Finally, Nestle developed the bite-sized morsels, which morphed into the chocolate chips we know - and love today.
And what happened to Ms. Chocolate Chip? She kept baking her treats until her death in 1977; during her lifetime, she also wrote a cookbook which eventually went through 39 printings.
So next time you sink your teeth into a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, thank Ruth Wakefield! (And fate.)
For more information:
http://tollhousecookies.net/toll_house_history
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