DoubleTree by Hilton Chocolate Chip Cookie Baked in Space Now on Display at National Air and Space Museum

A DoubleTree chocolate chip cookie
A DoubleTree by Hilton chocolate chip cookie baked in space has been placed into the collection of the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, which is part of the Smithsonian.
The cookie’s journey began in 2019, when it was baked on board the International Space Station. After its aroma wafted through the space station, it was returned to Earth for study by food scientists and made a stop at the Johnson Space Center in Houston before becoming part of the Udvar-Hazy Center’s display of space food.
“We are thrilled to display DoubleTree by Hilton’s chocolate chip cookie as the first-ever food baked in space by astronauts,” said Dr. Jennifer K. Levasseur, a curator at the museum.
During the first year of the pandemic, Hilton released what up until then had been the top-secret recipe for the chocolate chip cookies its DoubleTree hotels give guests upon arrival.
The recipe, which has been published online, calls for butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice freshly squeezed, flour, rolled oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, walnuts, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
According to Hilton’s in-house chef, home bakers can freeze the cookie dough and place it in the oven frozen in order to have on-demand DoubleTree chocolate-chip cookies.
The hotel chain began to offer the chocolate chip cookies to VIP guests starting in the early 1980s but soon began to offer them to all guests at check-in. The first DoubleTree hotel opened in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1969.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)