National Chocolate Chip Day
National Chocolate Chip Day is a day to honor chocolate chips and recipes that use them. Learn about the origins of this delightful treat here.
The beloved Chocolate Chip. What can I say?
Can you imagine life without this little gem? I certainly can’t!
But how much do you know about it? Is it even a thought that’s rolled through your mind? Well, we’re going to answer all those burning questions about the chocolate chip that you never knew you even had.
When is National Chocolate Chip Day?
National Chocolate Chip Day is celebrated each year on May 15th.
A Brief History of the Chocolate Chip
Sometimes, freak accidents produce the most amazing results!
In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Inn restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, decided to make a batch of regular chocolate cookies. I don’t know if she was in a hurry or what, but instead of melting the chocolate, she decided to throw it in the dough.
When she took the cookies out of the oven, the chocolate pieces had not melted. And instead, kept their shape producing the world’s first chocolate chip cookie.
Needless to say it was a big hit. Thank you Ruth, for taking the shortcut that gave us the chocolate chip.
What Ingredients are in Chocolate Chips?
Most chocolate chips are made out of sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat and soy lecithin, which acts as an emulsifier. The emulsifier helps bind the cocoa solids, sugar and milk so they stick to the cocoa butter. That helps the chocolate melt better.
How are Chocolate Chips Made?
Chocolate chips are made with an automated machine which drips the tiny chocolate drop onto a large moving surface. Watch the video below. It’s really cool to actually see how the chocolate chips are produced.
What are some Different Types of Chocolate Chips?
If you walk down the grocery aisle, you’ll see so many different varieties of chocolate chips!
The most common are:
- Milk Chocolate
- A milk chocolate bar only needs to contain 10% cocoa.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Bittersweet is almost identical to Semi-Sweet)
- Semi-Sweet chips have somewhere around 75% cocoa but they do have some sugar to sweeten them.
- Dark Chocolate
- It usually has a cocoa percentage of between 75% and 100% and has very little sugar in them at all.
Other types of chocolate chips:
- White Chocolate Chips
- These are made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk. They lack the Cocoa Liquor used in the brown chocolate chips and take on the color of the cocoa butter, thus we call them “White”.
- Novelty Chips
- These kinds of chips are not really “chocolate” chips because they are not generally made with cocoa. You’ll find them in rainbow chips, butterscotch chips, mint-flavored chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
What are the Different Brands of Chocolate Chips?
There are so many brands of chocolate Morsels! Below, you’ll find the most common:
- Nestlé Toll House
- Ghirardelli
- Simple Truth
- Guittard
- Callebaut
- Chatfield’s
Ideas for Celebrating National Chocolate Chip Day
There are so many ways to celebrate this day. Here are a few that might be worth trying:
- Bake up your favorite batch of chocolate chip cookies and eat them. haha
- Throw a cookie exchange and have everyone make their favorite cookie recipe. Then each person brings an empty container to take some of each home.
- Surprise your kids, partner, spouse or significant other with a giant cookie cake to celebrate! (chocolate chip, of course!)
Things You Can Bake for National Chocolate Chip DAy using Chocolate Chips
Of course, you can bake chocolate chip cookies. Duh. But let’s look at some other things you can make (or buy) using chocolate chips!
- Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Bread
- Chocolate Chip Brownies
- Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Three Famous Cookie Bakeries
If you love cookies, and don’t have time to bake, you can always order them from your favorite bakery.
- Lenny & Larry’s | The Complete Cookie – Lenny and Larrys (packaged cookies with online ordering)
- Warm Cookies Delivered Until 3 AM Daily | Insomnia Cookies (only local delivery and pickup)
- Crumbl Cookies – Freshly Baked & Home Delivered Cookies (crumbl ships fresh cookies!!!)
Everytime we’re in Greensboro for a swim meet, we go to Crumbl. I also send my oldest son 4-packs every now and them and they ship great. They don’t ship cookies with icing so that’s a bummer, but understandable.
Interesting Statistics about Chocolate Chips
- There are 7 billion chocolate chip cookies eaten in the United States every year, with about 50% of those homemade cookies
- Fifty-three percent of American adults prefer chocolate chip cookies over peanut butter cookies (16 percent), oatmeal oatmeal cookies (15 percent), and any other variety.
- Moderate Doses It is a tiny handful of semisweet chocolate chips with 70% cacao (about 15semisweetrovides various health benefits, but it is an indulgence. 1.
Chocolate chips certainly enhance our lives. I know I am thankful for them! What kind of chocolate is your favorite?
