In 1937 Ruth Wakefield owned and operated the Toll House Inn in Whitman Massachusetts. Wakefield was making chocolate cookies and ran out of baker's chocolate. In a moment of inspiration she decided to substitute broken pieces of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate thinking it would melt in just as bakers chocolate did. Much to her surprise it did not and the first chocolate chip cookies had been made. (Another account has the Nestle chocolate falling into the mixer from a shelf as the cookies were mixed). From that day forward chocolate cookies were known as Toll House cookies.
Wakefield contacted Nestle and made a deal with them. The company would put her recipe (or a slight variant) on the cover of all their semi-sweet chocolate bars, and she would get a lifetime supply of chocolate. At that time Nestle began to market chocolate chips specifically for cookies. Every bag of chips contains her recipe.
-Professor Walter
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