The original Toll House Cookie Recipe is an American favorite made with crunchy walnuts and decadent semi-sweet chocolate chips. It’s a classic dessert recipe the whole family will love!
Unlike Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies or Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks these Chocolate Chip Cookies are as simple as it gets. They’re a family favorite recipe that’s been made for generations!
Nothing beats a classic, and one of the best ways to enjoy everyone’s favorite cookie is to make the original Toll House Cookie recipe!
You may have fond memories of baking these cookies with your parents or inhaling their aroma every time you walked into Grandma’s house. Maybe you even make them with your own kids now!
Did you know that Chocolate Chip Cookies were invented in the 1930s? Despite what you’ve heard, it wasn’t by accident, although no one ever would have ever guessed that they’d become a sweet American staple for years afterward.
Tips For Making The Best Toll House Cookie Recipe:
~ One of the things usually left out of the modern-day version of the recipe is the chilling time. But chilling the dough is absolutely crucial to getting soft and chewy cookies, if you don’t chill them, you’ll end up with flat cookies that spread.
– Make sure your butter is soft, this means the butter should indent easily when you press your thumb or the back of a spoon into it.
– Even if you’re using a non-stick pan, I still highly recommend using parchment paper or a silicone baking mat for a better bake on your cookies.
– The walnuts can be left out, but they really make the cookies!
Ruth Graves Wakefield owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts and was renowned for her scrumptious home cooking.
Wanting to please her guests with a new dessert, she added nuts and chunks of semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate to her cookies, which were served with ice cream… and the iconic treat was born!
Wakefield eventually gave Nestlé permission to use her recipe, and supposedly (and unsurprisingly) received free chocolate for life. That craveable Toll House Cookie recipe is still printed on bags of Nestlé chocolate chips to this day.
If you’ve never tried the original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, it’s about time! And if you have — well, you may be overdue for a chewy, chocolatey, oven-fresh batch.
How To Make Toll House Cookies
- To prepare the dough, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract with a wooden spoon.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully combined.
- Gradually beat in the flour mixture and stir until fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chip morsels and nuts.
- Chill the dough for at least 2 hours for best results.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough onto the pan, or drop by rounded tablespoons fulls on the baking sheet. Placing the cookies at least 2-inches apart.
- Bake for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then move to wire racks to cool completely.
America’s Favorite Cookie
America’s favorite cookies are made with basics like flour, eggs, and baking soda, but a mix of both white and brown sugars add a little depth to their sweetness. Then, vanilla and two sticks of butter (!) make them extra rich.
The recipe calls for chopped nuts, and I like to use walnuts to add a bit of crunch. Plus, they’re good for your heart, brain, and can even help prevent cancer… so that makes these cookies healthy, right?
And let’s not forget about those semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate chips! This recipe calls for a full two cups so each bite is filled with decadent, chocolatey morsels.
Since Toll House Cookies were created to be served alongside ice cream. Try enjoying them with a heaping scoop of vanilla, hey, it’s in the name of history!
Sometimes I even make ice cream sandwiches to keep in the freezer for when I’m in the mood for a frozen treat!
Whether served ooey-gooey and oven-fresh with a glass of milk or as a frosty ice cream sandwich treat, there’s no bad time to eat a chocolate chip cookie!
There’s a reason that Toll House Cookies have remained a family favorite for decades. For a taste of nostalgia that never gets old, stick with the recipe that’s stood the test of time!
More Delicious Chocolate Chip Recipes!
- Edible Cookie Dough
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake
- Cookie Dough Truffles
- Brownie Cookies
Toll House Cookies
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Toll House Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 12 ounces Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, and vanilla with a wooden spoon, mix the eggs in one at a time until fully combined.
- Gradually mix in the flour mixture and stir until fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
- Chill the dough for at least 2 hours for best results.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough onto the pan, placing the cookies at least 2-inches apart. Bake for 8-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool on pan for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
- Do not use a mixer to mix the cookies as this could result in flat cookies.
- Not chilling the dough could result in flatter cookies.
- Slightly adapted from Nestle Toll House.
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Karen says
I used baking soda. Maybe I mixed it too long?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Did you possibly use baking powder instead of baking soda?
Karen says
HELP! ! I just tried this recipe and am a bit disappointed. Here’s my problem: the cookies have a cake like texture and they really didn’t spread out much as they baked. The flavor is OK- just not a chewy cookie as I was hoping to make. Being an inexperienced baker I’m not sure what might have caused this to happen. I followed the directions exactly and made no changes to the recipe. Any idea of where I went wrong?
Thanks so much!
kd
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad you loved them, Irma! Thanks so much for the sweet comment!
Irma Valdivia says
Loved, loved, loved your recipe, don’t know if it was the Kosher Salt or the hand mixing but these were the best i’ve ever made. Followed our recipe to the letter. and cookies came out great!
Linda says
Re-read the recipe. It said to whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Further in the recipe it said to add it gradually to the creamed mixture.
Cathy says
The original recipe also included a teaspoon of water as the last ingredient.
Linda says
This is not the original recipe. The true original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon warm water mixed with the 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Rebecca Hubbell says
An inexperienced reader might have missed steps 1 and 3. Please read through the recipe before being so rude…
Mo says
This recipe has a small but vital component missing that perhaps an inexperienced baker may miss. It never actually tells you to mix the flour, salt and baking soda together therefore the cookies may turn out flat and bland with no leavening agent or salt. Please read through recipes rather than just copying them.
Kathi Pauling says
The handwritten original recipe from the inn used shortening. This is the first published version. I was also told the original bag recipe said to melt 1/2 C butter, 1/2 C shortening and the brown sugar together then cool. We’ve been doing that since the 40’s. The white sugar was beaten with the eggs and vanilla.
Albert Bevia says
Nothing beats a classic, I never knew the story of how these cookies became so famous…now I know!! I could live with free chocolate for life too!!!! these cookies look amazing, thanks for the recipe and tips on making it
Dennis says
Who doesn’t love a yummy cookie recipe with walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate? Yum! And your cookie photos are absolutely stunning! I wish I could hook up a 3D printer to my computer, so I could snack on them right now! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try at home with my family!
Jenn says
LOVE THESE SO MUCH! Fantastic cookies and photos!
Amanda Finks says
Can’t beat this classic chocolate chip cookie! So good!