Which local spot makes the best version of Massachusetts' state cookie?

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Only three states — Alabama, New Mexico and Massachusetts — have a designated “state cookie.” And while I’m sure Yellowhammer cookies and Bizcochitos are delicious, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the Bay State’s confection is the most iconic of the bunch.

Since 1997, the chocolate chip has been recognized as the official cookie of Massachusetts, the state where it was born.  The recipe was first published in 1938 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Inn with her husband in the South Shore town of Whitman.

The invention of the chocolate chip was no accident (despite a longtime prevailing narrative it was). Wakefield, a chef and former Brockton High School home economics teacher, pioneered it in an effort to spice up a butterscotch cookie recipe already sold at the inn. According to her obituary in The New York Times, Wakefield and an assistant pastry chef created the chocolate “chips” by using an ice pick to chip apart a chocolate bar. In 1939, Wakefield sold the rights to reproduce the recipe to Nestlé, which would go on to create the chocolate morsels we know as chips (no ice pick required).

According to author Carolyn Wyman’s “The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book,” the cookies achieved national popularity during World War II, as soldiers from New England shared care packages from home. Nestlé began selling millions of chips a year under the Toll House name. The restaurant grew from seven tables to more than 60, and got up to 2,000 visitors a day during its busy season, according to a menu from the era. It was reportedly even a favorite of the Kennedys.

The Toll House Inn no longer exists in Whitman. It burned down on New Years’ Eve 1984, 18 years after the Wakefields sold it and retired. The inn was never rebuilt. But its restored sign (along with a plaque memorializing the site) stands in what is now a Wendy’s parking lot just off Bedford Street.

It’s similar to how the chocolate chip cookie has faded into the background of everyday life — on grocery store shelves, deli counters and bakery display cases around the country.

Some food critics and bakers say Wakefield’s original recipe is hard to beat. The question is: which spot in Massachusetts, the state that claims this humble cookie, is serving up the tastiest version?

Obviously, we can’t try them all. So we want to hear from you. Click here to tell us which spot in Massachusetts has the best chocolate chip cookie. Your response could be included in a sweet newsletter roundup in the near future.