The Best Additions to Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

It doesn’t take much to hit face-melting levels of deliciousness when it comes to the chocolate chip cookie. After all, even when made with the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips, this is a dessert that tastes pretty good. 

But that doesn’t mean that with mere perfection, you can be happy. The truth is because these cookies are brilliant. You only need one or two easy tricks to make them even better and customize them to suit your taste.

Here’s everything you need to know to make your Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies much better and more delicious! 

Quick History

In 1924, Ruth Graves graduated from the College of Household Arts, Framingham State Normal School. As a dietitian, she worked and lectured on food. In 1930, on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts, halfway between Boston and New Bedford, Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield bought a historic Cape Cod-style hotel, the Toll House. 

The house, originally built in 1709, had served as a stop in Colonial times for travelers: they paid their road toll, changed horses, and dined. The Wakefields opened a lodge on the property about 200 years later, the Toll House Inn. They had typical Colonial fare served. 

Ruth did the baking, and her desserts were trendy. One day in 1937, Ruth discovered that she did not have the baker’s chocolate needed while baking a batch of Butter Drop Do cookies, a colonial brown sugar cookie recipe, and instead chopped a bar of Nestlé Semi-Sweet Chocolate into tiny bits. 

She added them to the dough, expecting them to melt in the baking process.

The Baking Progress

The chocolate retained its form instead and softened to a smooth texture. The new cookies became very popular; Ruth’s recipe was published in New England newspapers, and Nestlé’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar sales skyrocketed. 

Ruth eventually approached Nestlé and reached an agreement that enabled Nestlé to print on the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar wrapper what would become known as the Toll House Cookie recipe (part of the deal included supplying Ruth with all the chocolate she could use for the rest of her life).

Upgrading Tip 1: Brown Your Sugar & Whisk Some Coffee Grounds 

Most recipes for chocolate chip cookies begin by creaming softened butter with sugar. But what if you brown the butter until it’s golden brown and let it cool until it’s strong before combining with the sugar? You get a nutty depth that works perfectly with the butterscotch taste of the cookies.

Almost every recipe for chocolate chip cookies calls for the dry ingredients to be whisked together, and that is the perfect opportunity to add a little coffee to the mix. 

Only add one or two teaspoons of freshly ground coffee or instant espresso powder, and you’ll get incredible notes of mocha.

Upgrade Tip 2: Add Some Cinnamon 

They may have begun as sugar cookies, but this treat is turned into heavenly little cinnamon rolls by a cinnamon and brown sugar sprinkle. Topped with frosting and cream cheese, these cookies are better than the real deal. 

One of the most favorite spices is cinnamon. In particular, with this fall season, it’s a perfect addition to chocolate chip cookies. So, why don’t you enjoy the season?

Upgrade Tip 3: Go Nuts

Add walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, pistachios … for a little extra flavor and crunch. You really can’t go wrong with adding any kind of nut to your batter. The most common nuts you can add are the following. 

• Almonds: The oval-shaped, flat almonds have a mild, creamy taste. It is possible to buy them whole, sliced, slivered, chopped, and ground. By blanching, you can eliminate their brown skin.
• Cashews: Cashews go well with chocolate and offer a rich, buttery flavor to homemade cookies. Choose roasted ones when your cookie recipe calls for cashews unless otherwise directed.
• Hazelnuts: These small round nuts, also known as filberts, feature a mild, sweet flavor enhanced by toasting. Hazelnuts may be used blanched, toasted, sliced, ground, or whole. When used for baking, their brown skins should be separated by blanching.

Conclusion

Now, there are always more ways to update after your cookies come out of the oven. In a small saucepan, melt more chopped chocolate with a couple of pats of butter over low heat, whisking just until smooth and silky. 

Do some dipping then. Before having them set on a rack set over a baking sheet,you could dip in just half of every cooled cookie. Then all you have to do is remember to wait until the chocolate settles before you eat one.