History of Cookie Invention:
The chips known as “cookies” are one of the things that are not said to, as most people have gathered to love them, but perhaps this love and admiration will increase even more if we know that the inventor of this product sold the idea to a large company in return for obtaining chocolate from it for life. According to mindblowing.com.
Ruth Wakefield, the creator of “cookies”, was born in 1905, and since she was a child she pays great attention to cooking and food, so after her graduation she worked as a dietitian and began giving lectures on food, until she got married, and decided to cooperate with her husband in exploiting the tourism boom in the region where she lives, and has turned their house into a hotel, with a restaurant called the Toll House Inn, and has prepared meals for tourists and locals.
In 1939, Wakefield tried to make cookies by adding chocolate chips to the mixture, hoping that it would melt and turn the cake brown, but the pieces remained the same, so the first “cookies” with chocolate chips were made by chance.
These cakes became very popular in the local area, and their sales rose rapidly, so that they made huge profits for the “Wakefield” restaurant, prompting one of the major companies known to this day to make offers to them to buy the rights to manufacture the product, in exchange for any amount of money they ask for, but « Andrew Nestle, the owner of the company, was amazed when he learned that Wakefield had agreed to sell it, but for no money, just wanting the company to supply it with chocolate for life.
Ruth Wakefield died in 1977, and although there are many manufacturers of “cookies” today, the first intellectual rights remain in favor of “Ruth”, becoming one of the most famous women inventors of the 20th century.
How chocolate is made in factories:
-Harvest
The fruits of the cocoa tree are harvested when they are fully ripe for use in the chocolate industry, and once the cocoa plant is harvested, the seeds are separated from the pods and pulp; to allow the start of the fermentation process resulting from the presence of natural sugar in cocoa beans.
-Fermentation
The cocoa fruits are cleaned manually, and then exposed to light until their color turns from creamy to purple, and the fermentation process takes place in one of two ways, namely: the stacking method in which the cocoa is pressed into piles on the ground, or through cascading boxes. In both methods, the cocoa fruits are covered with banana leaves and left; To ferment for a period ranging between 2-9 days, during which the fruits take on the color and flavor of chocolate.
-Roasting
The quality and cleanliness of the cocoa beans are confirmed and free from any rot or worms upon their arrival to the factory, after which they are subjected to a taste test by the company’s specialists, and then the ready-made fruits are sent to be roasted in the toaster for a period ranging from 10 to 35 minutes.
-Crushing and grinding
The previous roasting process leads to the dissolution of the husks from the core of the cocoa fruit, then the process of crushing and grinding takes place at high temperatures. To produce the so-called cocoa juice (in English: chocolate liquor), the grinding process is carried out by placing the pulp of the fruits in the mill, or in a special milling machine to crush and grind the cocoa pulp, until it turns into cocoa butter, and the grinding and crushing process is repeated in the refining machine; To reduce the size of the chocolate blocks and other ingredients, such as sugar or milk powder, taking care that the cocoa butter reaches all over the chocolate block. The machine is stopped when the required size desired by the factory is obtained. Depending on the type and flavor of the required chocolate, different proportions of cocoa butter are removed or added to the chocolate, and some or all of the following ingredients are added: sugar, lecithin, milk, cream powder, and milk crumbs, which are used to add caramel taste to chocolate and vanilla.
-Chocolate preparation:
Chocolate is prepared in a chocolate making machine, where the chocolate mixture is rolled, kneaded, heated, and aerated; To produce delicious, smooth and pure chocolate, then comes the final stage, which is the chocolate preparation stage, in which the chocolate that was prepared in the previous step is placed under certain temperatures in certain molds; To produce different types of chocolate.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
DIRECTIONS:
– Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
– In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars.
– Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
– Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
– Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
– Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
– Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
