How do I measure added ingredients such as morsels, nuts, coconut or raisins?

Use a dry measuring cup and fill to the top only, not to heap.

Substitutes & Swaps

• Egg substitute:

   Swap 3 TBS LIBBY'S Pumpkin or Apple Sauce per each Large Egg

• Butter substitute:

   Vegetable Shortening, Margarine, Olive Oil Sticks, Coconut Oil

  Salted Butter: Most baking recipes are created with unsalted butter being used. If using salted, cut back on the salt amount in the recipe. This is the case for our Nestle Toll House recipes.

  Temperature: Butter should be room temperature. To get here, you can leave it out on the counter while you preheat your oven (or about 20 minutes) You can also microwave it for 5-10 seconds.

  Margarine: Because of margarine’s water content, using it in place of butter will produce slightly flatter and softer cookies. Look for a higher fat content margarine to achieve the Original Nestle Toll House cookie texture. When using margarine, do not soften. Use it directly from the refrigerator and avoid tub and light margarine.

  Shortening: Because of shortenings’ lack of water content, using it in place of butter will make cookies more cakey and thicker plus lack that iconic buttery taste.

• Flours (wheat, gluten free, flour free)

  Swap Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour for AP Flour, such as Red Mill.

  Whole Wheat:

    Use a Light/White Whole Wheat Flour or Whole Wheat Pastry Flour when making cookies or cakes. Most whole wheat flours have a high protein content which is good for bread, but bad for sweets. The lighter flours work better in cookies.

• Light vs Dark Brown Sugar vs White Sugar

  White sugar will help cookies spread and lead to a thinner and crunchier cookie.

  Brown Sugars will lead to softer and thicker cookies with a bit of a chew to them. This is due to the molasses in the sugar.

  Dark brown sugar will have more of the molasses taste and light will have a bit less. Both add flavor, texture, and a less sweet note to baked goods.

• Coconut Sugar, Splenda, Stevia

  We prefer baking blends (part sugar/part alternate sweetener) in baking. Sugar adds sweetness, but it also helps with texture and leavening. Alternative sweeteners do not work in the same way, and therefore create cookies with differing textures. The baking blends work well to cut some of the calories, but still maintain the structure of the cookie.

• Large Eggs vs. Extra Large Eggs vs. Medium Eggs

  Most baking recipes are created with Large Eggs included in the list of ingredients.

  Eggs do vary in size, and if too large or too small, they will change your final product and may lead to a product you are not happy with. We recommend sticking to large eggs when baking, unless the recipe calls for another specific size of egg.

• Can I omit nuts? If so, what do I need to do?

  Yes. Add 1-2 TBS of additional flour, if omitting nuts from our Nestle Toll House Original chocolate chip cookie recipe.

In our NESTLÉ Baking Test Kitchens, we spoon the flour into the measuring cup/utensil and then level off the flour. We do this for all of our recipes.

No, raw baking batter or raw cookie dough should never be consumed. Please follow the baking instructions on the recipe.

All of our NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, LIBBY’S® and CARNATION® products have a “Best By”, “Use or Freeze By”, “Best If Used By”, or “Best Before” date printed on the packaging. We do not recommend using products beyond the date indicated on the package.

Each package of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Cookie Dough is labeled with a "Use or Freeze By" date, which is stamped in ink on the side of the wrapper. Refrigerated Bar Dough may be frozen for up to 2 months, if placed in the freezer before the "Use or Freeze By" date indicated on the package.

We recommend using our products before their best by dates stamped on all of our products. Once the date has passed, we encourage you to replace the older product with a new product.

However, the series of numbers stamped before or after the best by date is what we call the manufacturing/date code. The Julian date coding we use is commonly used in the food industry. This date coding communicates more than recommended shelf life. It calls out the exact date the product was manufactured. These codes allow us to track each batch of product. The first number is the year the product was produced. The next three numbers identify the day it was produced, according to the Julian calendar.

Chocolate should be stored in a cool dry place, around 60-70 degrees F. Your pantry is the perfect home for our morsels! If you open your morsels and they’re clumped together or chalky, this is the perfect indicator that they were not kept in a cool/dry place. If your morsels have “White Freckles”, “white spots”, “cloudy”, “dusty”, “powdery”, “scuffed”, “ashy”, “chalky”, “splotchy”, “grayish” these are good indication that these morsels are bloomed caused by exposure to heat or cold.

Freezing can be done but it will not significantly increase the shelf life. If frozen, bring the morsels to room temperature slowly or moisture will gather and may cause sugar bloom (white powdery appearance). Chocolate becomes hard and brittle when chilled so allow it to come to room temperature before using.

Store these items in a cool, dry place away from light and heat at temperatures of 65-75° F. We don’t recommend that you freeze these products.

The "whitish" appearance or film that you may see on your products is what we call "bloom." Bloom is a "whitish" or sometimes "grayish" film caused by the cocoa butter or sugar rising to the surface when chocolate is stored at temperatures that fluctuate from hot to cold. This dulls the rich brown chocolate color but does not affect the taste. When the chocolate melts, it regains its attractive color. 

Just like us, chocolate is sensitive! When chocolate is exposed to heat, the fat comes out of suspension. At this point, the chocolate’s structure is melted and cannot cool in the same manner, so the fat appears on the surface as “ fat bloom.

This can happen from many scenarios; From something as simple as the bags sitting in your car for 45 minutes while you run errands on a summer day or when they’re stored next to your toaster on your counter top, or on your windowsill where the sun is shining. Storage that is too cold causes "sugar bloom".

When chocolate is exposed to cold (ie. frozen) and then taken back to room temperature, condensation will form on the cold chocolate, just like it does on the outside of a cold glass of lemonade on a hot day! When the moisture evaporates, it leaves behind sugar on the surface called "sugar bloom". This happens because the water from the condensation dissolves sugar on the chocolate’s surface. When the morsels warm up to the room temperature, that water evaporates, leaving behind the sugar crystals it formed.

To keep your morsels safe and free of sugar bloom, we recommend storing in 50-60%RH (average air humidity). If you do want to freeze our morsels, make sure the bag is SEALED (making sure you’ve pushed out as much air as possible). To defrost, place the chocolate in the refrigerator for a day, then you can bring it out to room. The key is to freeze fast then warm up warm up slowly to avoid condensation!

Place 2 cups (12–ounce package) Nestlé Toll House Semi–Sweet Chocolate Morsels in medium, heavy–duty plastic bag or airtight container. Add 1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract; seal bag or cover container. Shake to coat. Store for 24 hours to allow sufficient time for morsels to absorb mint extract.

The mint flavored morsels can then be added directly to your recipe or melted according to morsel package directions.

Don’t have 24 hours? Here’s a great shortcut: Place 2 cups (12–ounce package) Nestlé Toll House Semi–Sweet Chocolate Morsels in medium, heavy–duty plastic bag or airtight container. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract; seal bag or cover container. Shake to coat. Use in your favorite recipe.

For Melting: Melt Nestlé Toll House Semi–Sweet Chocolate Morsels according to package directions. For 1 cup semi–sweet chocolate morsels, stir in 1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract; for 2 cups semi–sweet chocolate morsels, stir in 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract.

In our NESTLÉ Baking Test Kitchens, we spoon the flour into the measuring cup/utensil and then level off the flour. And we do this for all of our recipes. 

If you’re seeing white spots on your chocolate, first check if there is chocolate debris in the bag. Often times if chocolate has been broken or tossed around a lot, the surface can get “scuffed”.

Next, if the bag is free of debris, feel the surface of the chocolate, if it’s gritty like the texture of powdered sugar it’s sugar bloom! In this case, you’re feeling the sugar crystals left behind by condensation.

If the chocolate doesn’t feel gritty, warm the morsels be rubbing them with your fingers, just like you would if you’re warming your hands. If the white appearance goes away, you’ve melted the bloom and proven that it’s fat – which indicates your morsels had fat bloom from heat exposure.

In both cases, yes! Neither type of bloom affects the taste or bake-ability of our morsels.

Although bloomed morsels are still great for eating and baking they can be a little more tricky for melting. If fat bloom has occurred, by melting down the morsels, you’re likely to aggravate the fat suspension even more and once hardened, the chocolate will appear more bloomed than before you melted it. If Sugar Bloom has occurred, it’s not likely to melt well. Because water has been present and surface sugar has crystalized, by melting the chocolate, you’re likely to seize it and the chocolate will become chalky and clumpy.