National Chocolate Chip Day: How Are You Celebrating?

As if you need more motivation to eat chocolate, today is National Chocolate Chip Day.

Chocolate chips are an essential ingredient in a wide range of tasty goods—from chocolate chip cookies to chocolate chip muffins. They got their start in the 1930s, when Ruth Graves Wakefield concocted the original chocolate chip cookie at her Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass.

She had planned to bake chocolate cookies for her guests, but she didn't have enough baker's chocolate. As a result, she substituted a chopped up semi-sweet chocolate bar, discovering that the pieces didn't melt into the dough as she had thought they would.

Her cookies were wildly popular with guests and, before long, her recipe was published in a Boston newspaper. Wakefield passed away in 1977. Today, about one-fourth of all cookies baked in the United States are chocolate chip.

Chocolate Chip Treats in Town

San Marino has plenty of places to get chocolate chip treats, whether you're craving a muffin, cake, ice cream or the classic chocolate chip cookie.

Here's some local places to celebrate the honorable chocolate chip:
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Tell us in the comments where you go in San Marino for a tasty chocolate chip treat!

Recipes

To celebrate National Chocolate Chip Day, you can also buy a bag of chocolate chips at a nearby grocery store like Vons, Pavilions or Hows and bake something scrumptious to share with family and friends.

Here are three recipes to get you started:

First, a recipe from www.allrecipes.com for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Second, a recipe from www.evilshenanigans.com for Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies.

And, finally, the recipe below for Banana Chocolate Chip Bread.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
serves 16

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Adjust the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 5 x 3-inch baking pan. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the finely chopped walnuts. In another bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla; add to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined; add chocolate chips. Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 60 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before inverting from pan. Cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, slice thinly.