Chocolate Chip Cookies - The Best Ever

Ingredients:
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
2-1/2 C. flour
1 stick butter-flavored Crisco
3/4 C. brown sugar
3/4 C. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Optional: 1/2 C. chopped walnuts

In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp soda, and 2 -1/2 cups of flour. In a large bowl, combine 1 stick of butter flavored Crisco, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup white sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla. When smooth, add 2 eggs and beat until creamy. Gradually add the flour mixture. Add 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. (You can add the whole bag, but using half a bag is plenty and stretches your chips!) Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (depending on your oven).

According to Mary Bellis at About.com, Ruth Wakefield invented the Toll House brand of chocolate chip cookies. Ruth Graves Wakefield graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. She worked as a dietitian and lectured on food, until, together with her husband she bought a tourist lodge named the Toll House Inn.

Ruth Wakefield prepared the recipes for the meals served to the guests at the Inn and gained local notoriety for her deserts. One of her favorite recipes was for Butter Drop Do cookies. The recipe called for the use of baker's chocolate and one day Ruth found herself without the needed ingredient. She substituted a semi-sweet chocolate bar cut up into bits. However, unlike the baker's chocolate the chopped up chocolate bar did not melt completely, the small pieces only softened.

As it so happened the chocolate bar had been a gift from Andrew Nestle of the Nestle Chocolate Company. As the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe became popular, sales of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate bar increased. Andrew Nestle and Ruth Wakefield struck a deal. Nestle would print the Toll House Cookie recipe on its packaging and Ruth Wakefield would have a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate.

See complete article at History of Chocolate Chip Cookies at About.com

When Mrs. Fields was launched in Palo Alto, California in 1977, Debbi Fields had one goal in mind: making people happy with her delicious chocolate chip cookies. She knew that once people tasted her fresh baked cookies made with premium, fresh ingredients, they would be hooked. But even she couldn't have anticipated that her cookies would become the most recognized - and sought after -- premier cookie brand in the world. That popularity has never waned. After all, who doesn't love fresh-baked Mrs. Fields cookies?

Debbi Fields knew that success would require more than just delicious cookies. To really achieve phenomenal growth and take the cookies to widespread corners of the earth, franchising was the logical choice. And Debbi herself insisted on uncompromising quality at every turn - from ingredients to customer service - ensuring that consumers had a superior and indulgent experience each and every time. After 30 years, Mrs. Fields still delivers on customer expectations with each delicious bite.

Photo and info from mrsfields.com.