If you're feeling nostalgic and are in the mood to bake, here's a recipe that is supposed to be the same or at least very similar to the original Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is from a radio program called Uncovering The Original Toll House Cookie Recipe with Maria Stefanos. It was transcribed from an interview with Peg, daughter of Sue Brides who was Ruth Wakefield's assistant.
Jump to Recipe
Many thanks to Peg for sharing her memory of the recipe! It's similar to the one on the Nestle Toll House bag but about 1 ½ times the amount and with shortening instead of butter. Also, the baking soda is dissolved in water.
Does Dissolving the Baking Soda Make a Difference?
Some of the very old Toll House recipes (so many claim to be the original) call for the baking soda to be dissolved in water, and I've always wondered if that really makes a difference. Today I finally took the time to run a test. I made one batch of cookies with baking soda dissolved in water and one batch of cookies with it mixed into the flour (as usual). The resulting cookies seemed pretty much the same, but I can see the argument for dissolving it. Maybe it activates the dough quicker or maybe it just ensures the baking soda is distributed evenly. If you notice a big difference in baking soda that's dissolved in water vs. mixed with the flour, let me know.
Butter vs. Shortening
What did make a difference was butter vs. shortening. I made a batch of the cookies using an equal weight of butter and they spread. It was a reminder that for the best in flavor and texture, all roads lead back to this recipe. However, if you are baking for people who are very sensitive to texture and want a thicker, softer cookie, this 100% shortening version is worth a try.
Room Temperature Eggs
It's good practice to bring eggs to room temperature because cold eggs don't always play well with the fat and the mixture will curdle. Bringing the eggs to room temperature helps emulsification, making the batter smoother. The result should be a more even bake and fluffier baked goods. The truth is, if you are using a powerful stand mixer and you use cold eggs in this recipe, the cookies should be fine. But in some recipes or recipes where you are beating by hand, having eggs at room temperature is more important. A quick trick to bring eggs to room temperature is to let them sit in warm water for about 30 to 60 seconds.
Small Batch Shortening Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you want to try the recipe but don't need a full batch, here are the ingredient amounts. I always make Toll House chocolate chip cookies by weight, so these are gram amounts.
- 96 grams shortening (half of a Crisco stick)
- 72 grams brown sugar
- 72 grams granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla (or ½, I like a little more)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2.5 grams salt)
- ½ teaspoon of soda dissolved in ½ teaspoon hot water (2.5 grams soda)
- 132 grams of King Arthur all-purpose flour (or any brand)
- 1 cup or more of your favorite semisweet chips
I didn't see directions in the radio show transcript so I just creamed the butter and sugar thoroughly, added the egg and beat until light (sometimes I do the opposite and barely beat the egg at all, but in these I whipped it). Beat in vanilla and salt, followed by dissolved baking soda and flour. Fold in chips (and nuts if using), scoop out balls and bake at 350 for about 13 minutes. -- Makes 18 to 20
Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
The original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe works well for bars! I made small batch version in a square glass dish. They baked and browned evenly and their texture was chewy. They didn't have any butter flavor, but the texture made up for that. Also, since I knew I wouldn't have any butter flavor I used a few more flavors of chips and added pecans.
Shortening Thoughts, Crisco Sticks
I still like using shortening for texture, but I've noticed that it doesn't keep well and that this affects the flavor. It could possibly be due to the reformulation of shortening back in 2007 when they removed most of the trans fats, but I'm not sure. If you don't plan on using a lot of it, you may want to buy the smaller cans or consider the sticks. The sticks aren't as economical, but they're individually wrapped which might help keep them fresher.
Recipe
Possibly The Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Crisco brand shortening** (288 grams)
- 1 ⅛ cups light brown sugar (225 grams)
- 1 ⅛ cups granulated sugar (225 grams)
- 3 large eggs, room temperature (See tip at the bottom)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon water
- 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (King Arthur) (396 grams)
- 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 ½ bags)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready three baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- With an electric mixer, beat shortening, sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Beat in salt. Dissolve baking soda in water and add to batter. Stir until fully blended.
- Gradually add flour, stirring until almost fully blended. Add chocolate chips and stir until chips are mixed in and flour is fully absorbed.
- Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop balls of dough and arrange on baking sheets spacing 2 ½ inches apart.
- Bake one sheet at a time for about 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
- Remove cookies from baking sheets and cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
Anna says
Gina, I'll add the old tip of dunking the eggs in warm water to speed things up. Sorry you had to wait for the cookies, but I'm glad the old Toll House recipe worked for you.
Gina says
Cookies are delicious! They turned out fluffier than traditional Toll Houserecipes. I didn’t realize the recipe called for “room temperature” eggs, so we had to wait quite a while til we could continue.
Anna says
Hi Pam,
That's a great question! Margarine has a lower melting point than shortening, so that's the first reason why the cookies won't be the same. As a kid, I made margarine cookies all the time and they were very good, but those same recipes from back then won't work now because most brands of margarine are not the same as they were 30 years ago. They have less fat. So you can use it, but the cookies won't be anything like the originals. They'll be cakey and lighter and will taste like whatever brand of margarine you are using. Some brands taste pretty good (though not really like butter) and others are awful. If you do go with margarine, try to use the stick kind that still has 100 calories per tablespoon. I wish we home bakers had access to the kind of margarine bakeries which acts more like shortening.
Pam Sheller says
Hello! Toll House Cookie bakers:
I have a question...can I use part butter and part margarine? I looked and couldn't find anywhere it said if it's a no or maybe! I don't want a flat cookie! I have grandchildren that loves Toll Cookies!
Andre says
P.s. I'm 67 yrs old. Come from a family of 8 children. We made A LOT of chocolate chip cookies. Never all crisco and never all butter lol
Anna says
Sabrina, it should be scoopable since it's made with shortening. The ones that difficult to scoop are usually the doughs made with butter -- especially melted butter. I just have a habit of scooping the dough and refrigerating the shaped mounds, but I don't know why you couldn't just cover and scoop later.
Sabrina says
I'm curious if you ever refrigerate this dough and if it's still scoopable?
Anna says
Lee, I was wondering the exact same thing so I made a small batch as bars. They're even better as bars!
Sue, it was interesting to hear that Ruth Wakefield actually thought up the recipe on a flight back from Egypt.
Sue says
This is probably as close to the original as anyone can hope to get. I wish I could remember what we used when I was growing up.
Thanks as always for all of your tests.
Lee says
any reason not to make these as bars?