Toll House Inn
Inn where the chocolate chip cookie was created.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Toll House Inn · see source
Where it is
Coordinates: 42°04′16″N 70°56′53″W (42.0710, -70.9480) · Open in OpenStreetMap
Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Toll House Inn (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.
The Toll House Inn was an inn located in Whitman, Massachusetts, established in 1930 by Kenneth and Ruth Graves Wakefield. The Toll House chocolate chip cookies are named after the inn. Contrary to its name and the sign, which still stands despite the building having burned down in 1984, the site was never a toll house, and it was built in 1817, not 1709. The use of 'toll house' and '1709' was a marketing strategy.
History
Despite a sign and name suggesting otherwise, the site was never a toll house, and the building was constructed in 1817, not 1709; the claims were a marketing strategy. Ruth Wakefield prepared all the food and became locally known for her desserts. According to early accounts, she created the first chocolate chip cookie by adapting her butter drop dough recipe and using a bar of Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate. In 1938, Wakefield and her assistant Sue Brides added chocolate to their popular butterscotch nut cookie to make it more interesting.
The dessert gained popularity, and Wakefield contacted Nestlé. They agreed that the company would print her recipe on the cover of its semi-sweet chocolate bars, and she would receive a lifetime supply of chocolate. Nestlé then began marketing chocolate chips specifically for cookies. Wakefield published a cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, which went through 39 printings.
She died in 1977. The inn burned down from a kitchen fire on New Year's Eve 1984 and was not rebuilt. The site at 362 Bedford Street is marked with a historical marker and a mounted restored sign. Nestlé still prints Wakefield's recipe on the back of each package of Toll House Morsels.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Toll House Inn (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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