# If I say Toll House cookies, what do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050 "2009-08-28T17:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/1 "2009-08-28T17:33:16Z")
Is Toll House generally used as just another name for chocolate cookies, or is it specific for the recipe on the package? Is it maybe a regional thing? Which would be weird because I grew up in the area I’m talking about and never heard it used that way. I have to go get some things done, but I’ll be back later to explain why I’m asking. In the meantime, I’m hoping for some opinions. Or just cookie stories, if you can’t think of anything else. I’m flexible. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/2 "2009-08-28T17:36:32Z")
It makes me think “OH DEAR GOD I WANT A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE.” In all caps like that. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/3 "2009-08-28T17:38:57Z")
When I hear “Toll House Cookies” I think chocolate chip cookies ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/4 "2009-08-28T17:41:48Z")
Yes, a chocolate chip cookie, fresh from the oven and still gooey… ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/5 "2009-08-28T17:42:07Z")
I think you’re a commercial talking about [Nestle Toll House Cookies](http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476). If you’re not a commercial, you’d just say “chocolate chip cookies”. (I assume that’s what you meant, and not “chocolate cookies”, which are something else entirely.) ETA: That’s what you’re asking, right? Not, “What does Toll House cookies mean to you”, but “Do you call all chocolate chip cookies ‘Toll House’ cookies?” All’s I know is, I want a cookie. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/6 "2009-08-28T17:46:51Z")
I’m with **Heart of Dorkness**. I’d think you’re a marketing shill for Nestle, trying to force the general public to use the annoying “Toll House” name for the chocolate chip cookie. Then I’d give you a hard time for not making your chocolate chips peanut safe, so we have to buy Hershey’s brand anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/7 "2009-08-28T17:49:36Z")
I don’t know of anyone that calls chocolate chip cookies “Toll House cookies” but I would know exactly what they meant if they said they had some, or were making some. I would also ask for one. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/8 "2009-08-28T17:50:31Z")
The name Toll House predates Nestles’ marketing of the chips, though. The recipe was invented by a woman who worked near a toll house. Nestle bought her recipe in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate. So to me toll house just means chocolate chip. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/9 "2009-08-28T17:54:28Z")
To me it means cookies baked from the recipe on the back of the Nestles Toll House Chips bag. Not puffy chocolate chip cookies. Not packaged chocolate chip cookies. Cookies baked from that recipe. With semi-sweet chips. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/10 "2009-08-28T17:56:35Z")
I think of cookies baked with Nestle semi-sweet chips, from the bag recipe. Nothing is quite the same, and it’s the recipe I swear by. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/11 "2009-08-28T18:07:48Z")
As long as you’re buying the chips, you may as well use the recipe on the bag. Because it’s right there, taunting you for eating half the chips. Right out of the bag. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/12 "2009-08-28T18:07:51Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I think of cookies baked with Nestle semi-sweet chips, from the bag recipe. Nothing is quite the same, and it’s the recipe I swear by. [/QUOTE] Yep. They are a specific kind of chocolate chip cookie, and are unsullied by things like macadamia nuts, white “chocolate” or whatever it is that goes into cookies so they turn out an inch thick and doughy. They are probably what 90% of the population envisions when they think about chocolate chip cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/13 "2009-08-28T18:09:17Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Is Toll House generally used as just another name for chocolate cookies, or is it specific for the recipe on the package? Is it maybe a regional thing? Which would be weird because I grew up in the area I’m talking about and never heard it used that way. > > I have to go get some things done, but I’ll be back later to explain why I’m asking. In the meantime, I’m hoping for some opinions. Or just cookie stories, if you can’t think of anything else. I’m flexible. I have never heard of a chocolate chip cookie as a toll house cookie. But doesn’t the Nestle cookie have nuts in it? So it isn’t a traditional chocolate chip cookie. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/14 "2009-08-28T18:18:16Z")
I believe the nuts are optional. I shouldn’t have joined this thread. God. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/15 "2009-08-28T18:24:10Z")
> [@Neptunian\_Slug](#): > > I have never heard of a chocolate chip cookie as a toll house cookie. But doesn’t the Nestle cookie have nuts in it? So it isn’t a traditional chocolate chip cookie. The [current recipe](http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476) for Nestle Toll House Cookies includes “nuts.” Were they in the original recipe? Does anybody have an old package of chocolate chips? Wikipedia indicates that [Toll House Cookies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_chip_cookie) _were_ the original Chocolate Chip Cookies. (My memory agrees; of course, I’m old!) Details of the origin story vary, of course. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/16 "2009-08-28T18:26:33Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > As long as you’re buying the chips, you may as well use the recipe on the bag. Because it’s right there, taunting you for eating half the chips. Right out of the bag. Ya gotta buy two bags. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/17 "2009-08-28T18:32:21Z")
Shirley O. Corriher, of _Cook Wise_ fame, wrote another book, _Bake Wise._ In her research for it, she went back to the writing about the original Toll House Cookie recipe. She says the back of the package left out some critical facts, and that makes most THCs come out too thin at the edges. You have to choose between underdone and burnt on the edges. One of the things left out is that the woman who created the cookie _always put the dough in the refrigerator overnight._ That allows a bonding of proteins and fats that I can’t adequately explain, because I’m not Shirley. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/18 "2009-08-28T18:47:30Z")
When I hear Tollhouse I specifically think of the recipe that is found on the back of the chocolate chip bag. Mom adds some to the recipe, so hers are better, IMO. For me though, if you made them _without_ chips and just put in walnuts, I would be in heaven. (I’m not a big chip fan.) ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/19 "2009-08-28T18:51:33Z")
I picture home baked, warm from the oven, melty chocolate chip cookies (with walnuts please), crispy on the outside, tender in the middle; the recipe on the bag of Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate chips. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050/20 "2009-08-28T18:55:34Z")
I would know you meant the cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle bag, because that’s what I grew up on. Anything else is just a chocolate chip cookie. And actually, I prefer thicker, cakier cookies to the Toll House recipe anyway which are too flat. But I should try refrigerating the dough first, I guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-say-toll-house-cookies-what-do-you-think/508050.md?page=2)