I love cookie favors! Especially when the cookies are homemade and delicious – like these chocolate chip cookies! I’ve made cookies from this recipe easily more than a dozen times. Everyone loves these soft, delicious cookies and I assure you that you will too! They would be perfect wedding favors and one of the highlights of your cookie table. Not only am I giving you the recipe, but free downloadable labels for your cookie favors designed for IW readers by the talented Brittany over at Pink Peacock Designs. All you will need to wrap these awesome favors are some white CD sleeves, full sheet labels for printing out your free labels and scissors (scallop).

Chocolate Chip Cafe Cookies (These are like the big, fat, chewy cookies that you find in cafes – only better!)

Makes 18 big cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Cream together melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy.

Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop the cookies 1/4 cup at a time onto baking sheet. Cookies should be approximately three inches apart.

Bake for 21 minutes on non-stick pans or 15-17 minutes on regular cookie sheet. Cool on baking racks.

Print out your cookie favor labels on adhesive paper.

Cut out labels with scalloping scissors. Adhere to white CD sleeves. Voila! Your fabulous favors are good to go!

Move over candy buffet, there’s a new reception idea in town and it’s just as sweet: the cookie table.

Actually, the cookie table has been a wedding tradition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for quite some time, but it seems to be catching on in other parts of the U.S and Canada.

The NY Times wrote an article about it in December, and I’ve been seeing cookie tables pop up on other blogs.

According to the NY times, the cookie table is a longstanding tradition in PA. that possibly had it’s origins during the Depression, when elaborate cakes were not as common. Cookies filled the need because everyone could chip in, instead of one family sharing all of the expense. At least that’s one of the the theories.

“For as long as anyone here can remember, wedding receptions in Pittsburgh have featured cookie tables, laden with dozens of homemade old-fashioned offerings like lady locks, pizzelles and buckeyes. For weeks ahead — sometimes months — mothers and aunts and grandmas and in-laws hunker down in the kitchen baking and freezing. Then, on the big day, hungry guests ravage the buffet, piling plates high and packing more in takeout containers so they can have them for breakfast the next day,” says the NY times article.

The cookie is so important to some that it would be bordering on sacrilege to do without it.

Cookie tables are also big in Ohio, and some claim that is where they originated.

What surprises me is that this idea didn’t catch on sooner in other parts of  the continent. I mean, who doesn’t love homemade cookies?

Here are a few photos of cookie tables that just might inspire you to have your own cookie table!

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Need wedding favors? Accessories? Gifts for your bridesmaids? Hop on over to The Wedding Outlet.

The Wedding Outlet literally has tens of thousands of products to choose from for your Big Day. If you are having a theme wedding, they’ve got you covered! Doing the DIY thing? They have what you need.

You know how much I love the idea of DIY favors, and these are perfect for those homemade cupcakes!

And check out these gorgeous boxes to fill with the edibles of your choice: jelly beans, chocolates, candies. Love these!

And if you want personalized wedding items, they’ve got heaps of those too. I could seriously use one of these cute measuring tapes for my purse!

Having a beach wedding? These personalized flip flops would be a perfect gift for your bridesmaids!

The Wedding Outlet also has a giant selection of accessories for your wedding ceremony. Everything from unity candles to flower girl baskets. They even have personalized aisle runners.

Want to see more? Check out The Wedding Outlet store and blog.

Thinking of a wedding in Mexico? These photos just might convince you!

Mary and Dan had a destination wedding at Azul Sensatori a Karisma Resort with 30 guests. Toronto’s Life Images shot these great photos.

Close your eyes. Now picture your fiance’s handsome face on your wedding day. Is he wearing a smile from ear to ear? Of course he is – because he’s marrying you. But I’ve got one more reason for him to smile big.

It’s that ultra dapper Blank Label dress shirt he’s wearing.  He’s never looked so good. To think, he designed the darn thing himself. And thanks to you, he got the shirt for free. That’s because you entered the IW Blank Label Giveaway!

What is the IW Blank Label Giveway you ask?

First, I must tell you a bit about the company, Blank Label. The site lets you literally design your own custom men’s dress shirts with a few clicks of the mouse. Choose the fabric and all the fixens’. You can even have the shirt monogramed. And the cool thing is that you can fully customize the colours to suit your wedding color scheme.

One lucky IW reader will win a Blank Label shirt* (valued at up to $150) simply by heading on over to Blank Label and using the dress shirt app to design a sizzlin’ hot shirt for her man.

Once you’re done designing the shirt, which should only take a few minutes,  simply cut and paste the link to the design into the comments below. And as one final step become a big ol’ Fan of IW on Facebook (that is, if you’re not already a fan!)

*winner required to pay shipping cost, which is $6 U.S in the U.S and $12 for international shipping.

You have until 11 a.m. March 6, 2010  to enter. This contest is open to residents worldwide. Winners will be selected by random number generator.