During World War II, soldiers from Massachusetts who were stationed overseas shared the cookies they received in care packages from home with soldiers from other parts of the United States. Hundreds of soldiers wrote home asking their families to send them Toll House cookies, and Wakefield received letters from around the world requesting her recipe,[9][10] helping spread their popularity beyond the east coast.[11] Chocolate chip cookies were first sold in the UK in 1956 by Maryland Cookies.[12]