Oct 26, 2012

National Dessert Month - Part 4: Finger Food Favorites

The final installment of our National Dessert Month celebration concludes our list of America's Top 10 Favorite Desserts with two of the country's most cherished hand-held desserts, accompanied by recipes from our brand new cookbook, Guilty Pleasures.

9.  Chocolate Chip Cookies

The chocolate chip cookie is arguably America’s favorite cookie. The recipe was accidentally created in 1930 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Wakefield, Massachusetts. While attempting to make a batch of chocolate cookies, Wakefield added bits of chocolate to the batter; however, instead of melting, the chocolate pieces remained in tact, and the chocolate chip cookie was born.

The cookies were wildly popular amongst Wakefield’s customers at the inn, and she went on to publish the recipe in 1936 in her cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes. The recipe was an immediate hit in homes all over America, and the chocolate chip cookie’s popularity skyrocketed.

Our recipe for “The Best of All Chocolate Chip Cookies” is a scrumptious update to the classic cookie, adding oats, cinnamon, and walnuts to the mix, making for some very luxuriant morsels.


10.  Brownies

Perhaps the main reason why Americans are so enamored with brownies is because they possess the softness of a cake and the chewiness of fudge all rolled into a neat little square that packs a huge chocolate punch. Interestingly enough, that is also the main reason why brownies were invented in the first place!

The origin of the brownie dates back to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Bertha Palmer of the famous Palmer House Hotel requested that the hotel chef develop a cake-like dessert that could be easy eaten from lunch boxes for ladies attending the fair. The chef created the first ever brownies, which were an immediate success. To this day, the hotel still produces these brownies, using the same exact original recipe.

Recipes for brownies began to appear in American cookbooks at the turn of the century, and instantly became a nationwide favorite. Hopefully, our recipe for “Best Ever Brownies” will become one of your favorites! 

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