What's less certain is why, exactly, Wakefield put the chopped-up chocolate into her cookies to begin with. A few versions of the story have her creating the recipe accidentally—she was out of nuts, she thought the chocolate would melt into the batter, the chips fell into the bowl by accident. Wyman, in her book, argues that Wakefield was too much of a perfectionist to have come upon the recipe so haphazardly. In support of her argument, she cites a few accounts from the 1970s in which Wakefield tells reporters that she'd been planning experiments with chocolate chunks.

Any account of the cookie's creation, though, has a hint of myth-making to it: No one was documenting the cookie's creation at the time. Who could have known that it would be such an innovation?

Like many great inventions, though, the chocolate cookie has been iterated and improved upon in the years since its creation—so much so that the chocolate-chip cookie eaters of today would hardly recognize Wakefield's chocolate chip cookies as such. As Dédé Wilson writes in the Boston Globe:

[T]he treats that Wakefield first made at the inn, which she and her husband, Kenneth, owned, were so tiny, that a single cookie — the size of a quarter — was not quite a bite…. the tinier versions turn out quite crunchy… they have a crisp texture with a buttery, caramelized, butterscotch-like flavor. The chocolate is generous but not overwhelming and nuts add both texture and flavor.

If you want to taste what Wakefield did, here's the recipe. It may not be a chocolate chip cookie in its most modern and highest form, but it still sounds pretty tasty.

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