Torcettini di Saint Vincent # Breast Cancer Awareness Fund Raising Event

Torcettini di Saint Vincent,  meaning small twists of Saint Vincent made their round in the blogosphere a few months back when Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen chose it for April challenge of We Knead to bake. The cookie instantly reminded me of the pink ribbon, the international symbol for breast care awareness and I saved the recipe for October.  I actually had these I had these cookies in mind when I told Anu that I will send an entry for her "BCAM" Breast Cancer Awareness Month - PINK RECIPES EVENT. However the internet connection at home had been acting funny so I could not post it in time. Never the less the Pink Ribbon Cookies are here today to remind you about the BCAM Fund Raising Event at Anu's Healthy Kitchen... that I made mentioned a couple of weeks back.....

As the name suggests, these cookies are originally from the town of Saint Vincent in Valle d'Aosta, a small mountainous region in North-Western Italy. They are however well known through out the Piedmont region. The Torcettinis are yeasted cookies that are rolled in granulated sugar(not necessarily pink sugar) for their sweetness. Apparently they have descended from Grissini (or breadsticks) and hence have a very similar texture. They are crunchy outside and have bread-like texture inside. Their texture however changes radically with the absorption of moisture. Though we enjoyed them later, we thought the freshly baked ones with their distinct citrusy fragrance tasted the best.

Now the recipe... I followed the recipe for the cookie dough from My Diverse Kitchen and found this video helpful for coloring the sugar pink. Though you do not need to color the sugar for this particular cookie, it might be helpful to know that coloring sugar at home is actually quite simple and inexpensive. All you need is gel coloring and your regular sugar...  Just put the required amount of sugar in a ziplock bag. Using a toothpick stain the wall of the ziplock bag with gel coloring of your choice. Then zip the bag and roll the sugar over the gel stains till the sugar in the bag is uniformly colored. The whole process takes only a few minutes but saves quite a bit of money.  Also coloring your own sugar give you the freedom to mix and match and create a riot of colored sugar.. Anyway that is how I colored the sugar for these Pink Ribbon Cookies.... 

Torcettini di Saint Vincent (Bread Machine) Recipe Source : My Diverse Kitchen
Preparation Time : minimum 2 hours 15 minutes                               Cooking Time: 25 minutes                      Yeilds: 24
Ingredients 1/2 cup warm water 2 1/2 tbsps unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp lime/lemon zest or crushes anise seeds 1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast 1/3 cup granulated sugar (pink color is not mandatory )  Instructions Put all the ingredients other than the granulated sugar in the bread machine pan in the other specified by the manufacturer and program it for the dough cycle. Stop the machine in 7-10 minutes, when the ingredients come together to form a soft dough. Now place the dough in a well greased bowl, cover with a greased plastic cling wrap and let it double over the next one hour. Once the dough has doubled punch it down, cover it with greased cling wrap and chill the dough for at least one hour or up to 24 hours. When ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degress F, line two cookies trays with parchment paper, pour the sugar in a flat surface and start working on the chilled dough. Roll out the dough into a 6 inch square. Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into 4 strips of equal width. Then cut each strip into 6 equal pieces thereby making 24 pieces of the dough. Now roll each piece into a pencil thick rope about 5-6 inches long. Uniformly coat the ropes with sugar by rolling them over the granulated sugar. Then twist them into a loop resembling a ribbon and let them rest on the prepared baking tray for about 20 minutes.  Once they have noticeably puffed, bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Then cool them on the racks, munch a few and store the rest in air-tight containers at room-temperature.

These cookies are being  yeast-spotted. 

I shall be sharing this at the following parties.

Monday : Mix it up Monday, The Scoop, Made with love Monday, 
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Monday, Inspiration Monday Party Sharing Monday, 
Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop,Maniac Monday Linky Party, Random Recipe Link Up @ Sara Howe

Meatless Monday:Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday : Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations, 
Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home , Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, 
Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles,  Tasty Tuesday @ Anyonita Nibbles,  
In & Out of the Kitchen @ Feeding Big & More, Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen, 
All my Bloggy Friends @Love Bakes Good Cakes

Wednesday : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain, 
Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wine'd Down Wednesday, 
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ All She Cooks Wednesday, Whatsit@White Lights on Wednesday, 
Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hunger Little Girl, Create & Share @ The Trendy Tree House,
What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar & Dots Look, What I Made @ Creations by Kara

Thursday: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, 
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity,  Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage , 
 Freedom Friday @ My Turn,  Thursday's Treasures @ Food Done Light,Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos

Friday : Foodie Friday @ Simple Living and Eating,  Friday Linky Party @ The Pin Junkie, 
Get Him Feed @ Anyonita Nibbles, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home,  
Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm, 
Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts, 
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club, The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog Recipes

"BCAM" - Breast Cancer Awareness Month Fund Raising EVENT - Oct 1st to Nov 15st

Dear Friends,

As most of you know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. In sink with that Anu Shoj of Anu's Healthy Kitchen announced this useful fund raising event to spread awareness and support in a small way all those who have been diagnosed with the disease and need  help with regard to the cost of the treatment. 

Some of us who feel the same way about the cause joined her to spread the word in the network world. Here is a list of bloggers who are contributing their space for this event.

Anu Shoj of Anu's Healthy Kitchen

Vardhini of Cooks Joy

Priya Suresh of Priya’s Versatile Recipes

Manjula of Desi Fiesta

Sangee of Spicy Treats

Nalini of Nalini’s Kitchen

Tanusree of Ma Niche

Priya Ranjit of Cook like Priya

Sathya of My Kitchen Odeyssey

Shama of Shama's Easy 2 Cook Recipes

Sangeetha of Nitha Kitchen

We sincerely thank each of our blogger friends for putting this forward and also helping with the donations.

The money collected through this event will be donated to the community Susan G. Komen which was created in 1982 by Nancy G. Brinker, who is Susan G. Komen's sister. She is "Fulfilling the Promise" which she gave her sister when she was dying. That promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and launched the global breast cancer movement. To know more about Susan G. Komen and the organization please visit the following link http://ww5.komen.org/AboutUs/AboutUs.html. We invite all of you to spend few moments here and donate if you feel its worth contributing to the cause. 

Here are the details of to how to donate:

• You can directly go to their website (http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/ Donate.html) and donate in any method that which you are comfortable.
• Or you can email Anu at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com, and she will reply to your email and take it from there.

This event runs from Oct 1st - Nov 15th, 2013.

* Please email Anu or leave a comment here, before/after you do the donation with the following details

- Your Name

- Your Email ID

- Your Blog/Website URL

- Amount You Wish/Did Donate (This is just to calculate how much we have collected at the end of this event. We are not concerned as to how much you would like to donate)

On the go, Anu at Anu's Healthy Kitchen will keep updating the list of persons who donate and at the end of the event will mention the total amount collected through this event. Hope you'll join us in our endeavor and contribute to the cause.  

Kindly email Anu Shoj at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com or  leave a comment here if you have any questions or concerns. Also, contact Anu at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com if you are interested in posting this event in their website/blog, 

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,
Tanusree