littlehuntingcreek: Hi! I agree with much of what you say in your article, having figured out many of the same things. (For example, it is ridiculous when people claim the cookies trace back to Amelia Simmons' "Butter Drop Do" cookies. They don't even realize that the "DO" is not part of the recipe name, and I have actually ARGUED with food historians about it!) I also see that at some point that error was parroted on Nestlé's own site, although I now can't find their "official" company history or the history of the cookie there. I do have a question and a comment: What is the source of the interview with Ruth Wakefield that you mention? I have looked for such a thing for a long time and have never found anything. Also, you mention a contract with Ruth Wakefield that dictated that Nestlé could NOT change the recipe during the course of the contract. I collect ephemera (along with cookbooks and other bits of information) and have an 11-page Nestlé booklet (which I've noted has both 1938 and 1939 in it) that contains a recipe, without the Toll House name, which is clearly based on RW's recipe but has some deviations. That must predate the 1939 contract, but I still find it interesting, although perhaps only peripherally related. Unfortunately, the aforementioned booklet is not among those that I have sorted, so it could take me quite a while to find it.

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