Chocolate chip cookies are one of America’s favorite cookies. In the U.S. alone, over 7 billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten every year, and there’s no sign that this trend is going to end anytime soon. So it’s quite suitable that this cookie would get its own holiday—a holiday that falls on August 4th and is known as National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

It’s a holiday that we know goes well with a tall glass of milk and plenty of chocolate chip cookies.

The History of Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

Okay, we have to admit that we don’t know the origin of Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and can only assume that it was started by one of the many companies that produce these types of cookies. However, we do happen to know the history of the chocolate chip cookie and are more than happy to spread that information far and wide.

Chocolate chip cookies were invented by a chef named Ruth Graves Wakefield. She was the first person to come up with the idea that if chocolate and cookie dough were delicious separately, then they must be twice as nice if they’re combined. And she was quite right. There’s nothing quite like the chocolate chip cookie.

This story starts in 1938 when Wakefield and Sue Brides, her cooking assistant, were trying to make their own type of cookie dough. She had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream—a dish that just about everyone who tasted it loved—but she decided she wanted to give people something a little different.

That’s when she came up with the Toll House Cookie—the first chocolate chip cookie to be made. By the way, this first chocolate chip cookie was officially titled in her 1938 cookbook as “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies.” The popularity of the chocolate chip cookie had a lot to do with American involvement in World War II during the 1940s.

Soldiers stationed overseas received care packages with Toll House Cookies in them, and this prompted interest in them among soldiers serving. Before long, Wakefield was inundated with hundreds of letters from around the world asking for the recipe for her now-famous chocolate chip cookies. The rest, as they say, is history.

Celebrating Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

We’ve found that the best way to celebrate Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is to grab a plate of cookies and a nice cold glass of milk. People wishing to spread the word about this day can also use the hashtag #ChocolateChipCookieDay on all of their social media posts.

And finally, we think a fitting tribute to Ruth Graves Wakefield on this day is also in order, and there’s probably no better way to honor her memory than to make her famous chocolate chip cookie recipe for friends and family.