Vintage Eats Recipe: 1979 Toll House Cookies

If Valentine’s Day is upon you and you’re unprepared with a treat for a party or stay-at-home evening, don’t worry. Turn on your oven, pull out a few items from your shelves and you can have a classic yummy ready in one hour!

Toll House Cookies are the answer to every baker’s dream. They are easy to make and virtually please every palate. They are not too sweet and dunk well in a glass of milk. They can be assembled by mature bakers or those starting out. This was the flavor of cookie I taught to my kids when teaching them to bake. They now produce perfect cookies!

Toll House Cookies, otherwise known simply as chocolate chip cookies, became famous when the Nestle Company first printed this now-famous cookie recipe on their semi-sweet chocolate morsels package in 1939.

It’s called Toll House because it was presumably created by a woman who ran a toll house, or place where travelers paid to pass by.

The recipe is included in the hardback, 194-page cookbook ‘Best Recipes from Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars’ by Ceil Dyer, published in 1979. It’s a winner!

Note: I halved this recipe as it was a large one. These baked cookies freeze well. Stick some in the freezer for a treat on a busy day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Note: Just because Artificial Intelligence (AI) is such an issue now, making us all wonder what is real and what is not, all photos shared here at this blog are real. I shoot them, good and bad, with my phone. They are all taken in my kitchen by me or a friend helping me. No AI allowed here!

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1979 Toll House Cookies

2-1/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour (may substitute whole wheat flour for half or all all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 package (12 ounces) Nestle semi-sweet real chocolate morsels

1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

In large bowl combine butter, sugars, and vanilla; beat until creamy.

Beat in eggs.

Gradually add flour mix; blend well.

Stir in morsels and nuts, if using them.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookies sheets.

Bake 375 degree for 8-10 minutes.

Yield: 100 2-inch cookies

*May omit nuts and substitute:

2 cups chopped dates

1 tablespoon grated orange rind

2 cups raisins