Every year on August 4th, bakers and cookie lovers celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. The holiday honors one of the most beloved treats in America, a dessert that started with a simple experiment in the 1930s. Ruth Wakefield, who owned the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, was making cookies for her guests when she decided to chop up a Nestlé chocolate bar and add the pieces to her dough. Instead of melting completely, the bits of chocolate held their shape and softened into gooey pockets throughout the cookie. Her creation became so popular that Nestlé struck a deal with her to feature her recipe on their chocolate packaging, and in return she received a lifetime supply of chocolate. That recipe, known as the Toll House Cookie, quickly spread across the country and marked the beginning of America’s love affair with chocolate chip cookies.

View page 10 in our August Baking Calendar to learn more about National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

Chocolate chips themselves have a fascinating story. They were invented specifically because of Wakefield’s recipe, and by the 1940s Nestlé began selling bags of “morsels” so home bakers no longer had to chop chocolate by hand. Today, they come in every flavor you can imagine—dark, milk, white, peanut butter, and even butterscotch. The chocolate chip cookie has grown beyond its classic form too, inspiring cookie dough ice cream, cookie cakes, and countless bakery variations. It is estimated that Americans bake more than seven billion chocolate chip cookies each year, making them the most popular homemade cookie in the nation.

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is more than just a reason to enjoy a sweet treat; it is a celebration of a recipe that has become woven into the fabric of American kitchens. Whether enjoyed warm from the oven with a glass of milk, or tucked into a lunchbox as a special surprise, the chocolate chip cookie continues to bring comfort and joy nearly a century after it was invented.