Guide Note

Any small piece of chocolate used in baking dish is considered a "chocolate chip." They were originally invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield to bake into cookies.

Modern chocolate chips come prepackaged and are available primarily in small cone shapes, different from the small chunks Wakefield used in her original chocolate chip cookies.

Fast Facts

1. Other chip flavors: Butterscotch, Peanut Butter and White Chocolate
2. May 15: National Chocolate Chip Day#1939: First manufactured by Nestle
3. Nestle discovered Wakefield's cookie and bought the "Toll House" brand
4. Maintain their texture and shape after melting

Chocolate chips are so small that they melt at a lower temperature than a more substantial piece of chocolate. As such, most major brands of chocolate chips contain less cocoa butter than purer forms of chocolate to slow down the melting process and prevent burning.

This versatility when baking allows chocolate chips to complement a variety of dishes, including pancakes, brownies and even muffins.