National Chocolate Chip Day: Learn the history of the morsels that dates back to the 1930s

Did you know that chocolate chips were created by accident? And now a whole day is dedicated to the sweet treat ingredient.

Chocolate Chip Day takes place on May 15 each year. 

Though chocolate chips are now an ingredient that can be added to desserts, pancakes and ice cream sundaes, their creation was actually kind of an accident.

When were chocolate chips created?

Chocolate chips were created at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, in the 1930s. 

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Ruth Graves Wakefield was the creator of the mini chocolate treat when she decided to break up some bits from a chocolate bar and add them to her cookie.

This created what would become the first chocolate chip cookie recipe.

What is the history of chocolate chips?

Food company Nestlé made a deal with Wakefield, allowing the company to publish her chocolate chip cookie recipe on its chocolate bar wrappings. 

The cookies became the Nestlé Toll House cookie, named after the inn where the recipe was first created.

Before the beloved chocolate chip as we know it today was created, breaking up a chocolate bar was the way to include chocolate sweetness into desserts. 

Nestlé even sold a chopping tool with its bars for a while to make it easier to break up, until the company started selling them in morsel form.

In 1997, the chocolate chip cookie became the official cookie of Massachusetts. The state is one of two in the country that have a state cookie (New Mexico is the other). 

Top brands for chocolate chips

• Nestlé chocolate
• Ghirardelli chocolate
• Hershey's chocolate
• Kirkland brand chocolate
• Guittard chocolate.

The brands featured above are all creators of unique chocolate chips. 

You can find semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, 60% cacao, 100% cacao, non-dairy, mini and more among these brands.

Additionally, they each make bars of chocolate in an assortment of flavors that you can use for chocolate chunks.

What can I use as a substitute for chocolate chips?

• M&M's
• Cocoa powder
• Melting chocolate
• Chocolate bars broken up
• Candy bars broken up

While chocolate chips are smooth and sure to melt down in the oven, you can use other types of chocolate to get the flavor and other textures, too.

Add color and a little crunch with M&M's if you're out of chocolate chips and stashing away Halloween candy somewhere.

Cocoa powder will turn the whole cookie a dark brown and add chocolate flavor. If you don't have chips, cocoa powder isn't the perfect substitute, but it will add the hoped-for chocolate flavor.

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Melting chocolate is basically chocolate chip morsels in a larger form. They're very easy to melt down — hence the name. 

These will add a smooth, chocolate texture to your cookies.

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Using chocolate bars broken up is like churning butter by hand. It's the old way of doing things. 

Since chocolate chips were originally created with chocolate bars broken up, this is the most traditional way to bake chocolate chip cookies.

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Using your favorite chocolate-based candy is also an option for chocolate chip cookies. 

While they'll be less chip than chocolate, you can include chocolate chips and overload sugar cookie dough with sweets for a super flavorful treat.