My family's been stopping at the Cle Elum Bakery while going between Seattle and eastern Washington since before I can remember. Maybe even before I was born. I always look forward to it: everything is made fresh there and they have several items that you can't find anywhere else. Like chocolate maple bars (my favorite). And torcetti (sometimes spelled "torchetti").
For a while I've been wanting to make them myself so a few months ago I finally decided to search for a recipe. What I thought was a popular Italian cookie is really something that's, for the most part, strictly sold in Cle Elum (well, that's what it seemed like. Although, I did find one version of the recipe that's made by a confectioner in Italy, via Chowhound). One common ingredient I noticed is active dry yeast: it's used as a leavener instead of baking soda and/or baking powder. So when I had a free Saturday (as I usually do) I decided to make these to bring into work. Because I only had one packet of yeast, I stuck with a recipe from Unicorn Love.
