"Padre" Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
It seems everyone loves chocolate chip cookies and the recipe happened by accident. I was fortunate to find a cook book intitled Ruth Wakefield's Toll House Tried and True Recipes in a vintage bookstore. It is a treasure and my favorite cookbook. In 1930 Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield bought a home on Cape Cod that was built in 1709. It was originally a "toll house" where passengers ate, changed horses and paid toll. The Wakefields turned it into an inn and called it The Toll House Inn.
Ruth Wakefield had been a dietitian and food lecturer. She used her own recipes and some shared by friends to serve the visitors at the Inn.
Her original chocolate chip cookie was titled "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies" in her Toll House Cook Book.
It is almost the identical recipe that is on the back of the Nestles Chocolate Chip bag, but at that time the chocolate wasn't chipped. The directions read "2 bars (7 1/2 oz.) Nestles yellow label chocolate semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of peas." It also recommended dissolving the soda in water.
When she first made the recipe, she was trying to make a chocolate cookie and thought that by adding the chunks of chocolate , they would melt into the dough during baking. They obviously didn't, but they became the most famous cookie of all time!
The recipe I use has half the margarine/butter called for in the original recipe. AND I only use Fleischmann's Original Margarine. For some reason the cookies turn out differently if I use another margarine or butter. By cutting the margarine amount to 1/2 cup, the cookies don't flatten out and stay fresh longer. I ALWAYS double the recipe. I hope you like my variation.
Padre Cookies*
1/2 cup Fleischmann's Original Margarine (or other margarine)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (not imitation)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts
12 oz pkg. of Nestles chocolate chips
Beat sugar and margarine until blended, add eggs and beat until smooth. From this point on, use a wooden spoon to stir: add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended.
Drop by spoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
Do not over bake, Remove when slightly brown and no longer shiny on top. They should retain shape and not flatten when removed from the oven.
If desired you can freeze all or part of the dough and just bake a few at a time. If you do this, drop onto the cookiie sheet and let sit at room temperature while the oven heats.
* I call these Padre Cookies because we used to live in San Diego and got to know several Padre baseball players. A mutual friend of some of the players used to make this recipe and send it into the locker room. It was a favorite and often requested cookie by the players.
If you eat these you have to become a Padre fan if you aren't already! Enjoy!
This picture is of the Inn as it looked when the Wakefield's owned it. It was burned to the ground in 1987 and a Wendy's now stands in its place.
Ruth Wakefield had been a dietitian and food lecturer. She used her own recipes and some shared by friends to serve the visitors at the Inn.
Her original chocolate chip cookie was titled "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies" in her Toll House Cook Book.
It is almost the identical recipe that is on the back of the Nestles Chocolate Chip bag, but at that time the chocolate wasn't chipped. The directions read "2 bars (7 1/2 oz.) Nestles yellow label chocolate semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of peas." It also recommended dissolving the soda in water.
When she first made the recipe, she was trying to make a chocolate cookie and thought that by adding the chunks of chocolate , they would melt into the dough during baking. They obviously didn't, but they became the most famous cookie of all time!
The recipe I use has half the margarine/butter called for in the original recipe. AND I only use Fleischmann's Original Margarine. For some reason the cookies turn out differently if I use another margarine or butter. By cutting the margarine amount to 1/2 cup, the cookies don't flatten out and stay fresh longer. I ALWAYS double the recipe. I hope you like my variation.
Padre Cookies*
1/2 cup Fleischmann's Original Margarine (or other margarine)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (not imitation)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts
12 oz pkg. of Nestles chocolate chips
Beat sugar and margarine until blended, add eggs and beat until smooth. From this point on, use a wooden spoon to stir: add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended.
Drop by spoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
Do not over bake, Remove when slightly brown and no longer shiny on top. They should retain shape and not flatten when removed from the oven.
If desired you can freeze all or part of the dough and just bake a few at a time. If you do this, drop onto the cookiie sheet and let sit at room temperature while the oven heats.
* I call these Padre Cookies because we used to live in San Diego and got to know several Padre baseball players. A mutual friend of some of the players used to make this recipe and send it into the locker room. It was a favorite and often requested cookie by the players.
If you eat these you have to become a Padre fan if you aren't already! Enjoy!
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