As much as I love fancy pastries and innovative desserts, nothing can take the place of a really great chocolate chip cookie. Everyone's familiar with chocolate chip cookies and almost everyone has a memory related to it, but how long has it existed and who invented it?

Since today is National Chocolate Chip Day, I thought I'd let you in on how they came about, and surprisingly, it seems that chocolate chips may have been one of those happy kitchen accidents. In 1937, Ruth Wakefield - owner of the Toll House Inn near Whitman, Massachusetts - decided to make a chocolate butter cookie by putting together dough and chocolate. She assumed that the chocolate chunks would melt and mix into the dough, fortunately for us, they did not melt and kept their shape instead. Ruth called her happy mistake the Chocolate Crunch Cookie and went about making herself a deal with Nestle: they could put the recipe on their chocolate bar and in return she could have all the chocolate she needed. Initially they sold the bar with a mini chopper to help cut it up into pieces, but in 1939 they began distributing chocolate morsels aka chocolate chips. I love a great chocolate chip cookie, but I also love just snacking on these right out of the bag...

To check Ruth Wakefield's original chocolate chip cookie recipe, read more

Mrs. Wakefield's Original Toll House Cookie Recipe
From The Kitchen Project

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.)
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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Source: AmericanHeritageRecipes/ChocolateChipCookie/">The Kitchen Project