A little chocolate chip cookie history

5/27/15 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

Cheers for chocolate chips!

The story of chocolate chips is legendary but they haven’t been around forever. They came about in the year the stock market came crashing down and the Great Depression was just beginning. Life was pretty grim in 1930 but then chocolate in  new product form came along. The story is old but worth re-telling.

Ruth and Kenneth Wakefield opened a new restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts in 1930. They named it the Toll House because it was located across from the old Boston-to-New Bedford Turnpike. One day Ruth was making a batch of cookies and decided to cut up a chocolate bar to add to the dough. She expected the chocolate to melt. Instead, it maintained its shape and voila! She had created the now famous chocolate chip cookie.

The cookies’ fame spread when she baked them and sent them to Mass. soldiers during WWII. Eventually, she contacted Nestle, the manufacturer of the chocolate bar she used. At her suggestion the company began making a scored chocolate bar that bakers could break into small pieces. Soon, a small chopper was available and then small pieces were sold in bags. The rest (as they say) is history.

If you love rich, chocolate chip cookies you will love today’s recipes. The first two are what I call “company good” cookies. Recipe #1 is from “Some Crust Bakery,” a European-style 5-star bakery in Claremont, Ca. Established in 1916, they’re still turning out mouthwatering pies, pastries, quiche, meals and other goodies.

One of their specialties is an amazing mocha cookie. I clipped the recipe from the SOS column in the L.A. Times years ago. The cookies are large, moist, dense and chewy—studded with chunks of bittersweet chocolate. They are decadently rich and best served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream. One to a customer is plenty! 

The second recipe is a newer favorite from the folks at Crisco. It has a crackle pattern that comes from rolling the dough balls in both granulated and powdered sugar before baking. The last recipe is a family-sized batch of Chocolate Chip Ranger cookies that I like better than Toll House.

Please Read and measure these recipes carefully. Use butter or Crisco when called for and Wheaties in the Ranger variety. It does make a difference. Baking cookies can be a tedious job but warm, chocolate chip creations make it all worthwhile. Enjoy!

Bakery-style Mocha Cookies

4-1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 eggs

3 tablespoons instant espresso

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup pastry flour (yes, that’s correct)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks

Heat oven to 350° F.

Line baking sheets with parchment

In a saucepan over low heat, combine unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat.

Combine the eggs, espresso and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed, scraping the bowl as needed, until blended. Then on high speed until the mixture becomes lighter in color and thickens—2 or 3 minutes. Add the melted chocolate mixture (do not cool it before hand) and beat on medium speed until just mixed with the batter.

Add the pastry flour, baking powder and salt; beat at medium-low until just mixed in, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks.

Spoon 1/4 cup batter per cookie onto lined baking sheets. Bake until set, about 15 min. Cool for a few minutes, then remove to a rack and cool completely. Makes about 20 large 3-inch cookies.

Note: You don't have to make these cookies so large. In fact, I prefer to make them smaller. I also like them a little sweeter. Semi-sweet chocolate can replace some of the bittersweet. And a few chopped walnuts in the batter makes them even better!

Chocolate Crackled Cookies

1-1/4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup Crisco shortening (or 1 Crisco baking stick)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat brown sugar, shortening and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in eggs. Stir together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda in small bowl. Gradually add to shortening mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375° F. Form dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. Roll in sugar, then in powdered sugar, to coat completely. Place 2-inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 8-10 min. or until cookies are set. Cool 2 min. on baking sheet. Remove cookies to wire rack and cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Chip Ranger Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups Wheaties cereal

1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Heat oven to 375° F.

Mix sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients (dough will be stiff). Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until set but not hard, 8-10 min. Cool 3 min.; remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Note: I often substitute 1/2 cup raisins (soaked in hot water, drained well) for 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.

Keep it simple and keep it seasonal! 

Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner is dedicated to sharing a variety of recipes 

that are delicious, family oriented and easy to prepare.