Homemade Cimonne cinnamon rolls come with an international pedigree

U.S. author and musician Daniel Handler once said, “Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven is a friend for life.”

Handler was talking about the comforting, sweet pastry that has evolved from Swedish traditions into a widely enjoyed treat worldwide.

Cinnamon rolls have become hugely popular. In New York City, cinnamon rolls are on the rise at the city’s bakeries.

Ximena Zamora (Left) and Ana Maria Carrión (Right) putting freshly baked cinnamon rolls onto a pan to cool before icing.

New Yorkers have lined up outside for an hour at Sunday Morning, a cinnamon roll-specific bakery in the East Village that opened in January, according to the New York Post.

To this day, if you are invited to someone’s home in Sweden for coffee, you will probably get a kanelbullar (cinnamon bun).

Cimonne can make up to 100 cinnamon rolls per day.

“In March, we started our cinnamon roll business. We always wanted to sell something that is not common here,” said Ana Maria Carrión. “We wanted to do more than cookies and cakes.”

Carrión, 17 years old, is talking about Cimonne, a baking business started by her mother, Ximena Zamora, 48, and her.

“I had a recipe for cinnamon rolls, and then we saw a photo of cinnamon rolls at a London bakery. So, we decided we had to try to do that,” said Carrión. “At that time, we were trying a lot of things, but the cinnamon rolls had to be done.”

At first, Zamora was hesitant.

Ana Maria Carrión melting butter for the dough.

“So, I suggested selling cinnamon rolls at the Quinta Lucrecia market,” said Carrión.

The market is held only during holidays at the casa with the same name, on Primero de Mayo. The long Mother’s Day weekend was their first chance to test the market.

“We made 400 cinnamon rolls,” said Carrión.

“We can only make 100 cinnamon rolls per day,” said Zamora. “I have never made that many at once.”

That worked out well for them as the market was for four days, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ximena Zamora spreading cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough that will make a dozen cinnamon rolls.

“People were really liking them. They would say, OMG! They are really good,” said Carrión. “The Americans there liked the cinnamon rolls more than even the Cuencanos.”

“I think it gave us the motivation to continue,” Zamora added.

The next thing to do was to come up with a name. The two and Carrión’s brother came up with “Cimonne.”

Next was marketing.

Cinnamon rolls usually come with classic icing, KINDER™ chocolate, and pistachio (in the photo above).

“My father suggested we go to Edificio Atlántida to give out samples and to get the word out,” said Carrión.

Edificio Atlántida is in the same neighborhood as Cimonne. It is one of the larger and more upscale multi-story residences in the city, with about 80 percent of the residents being Ecuadorians.

“We ended up with new Cuencano and North American customers,” said Carrión.

Using yeast, the cinnamon rolls must be kneaded.

Cimonne was not the route Zamora had envisioned. She went to the University of Azuay (UDA) for three years to get a degree in business administration.

At the same time, Zamora worked at a local bank.

She then moved to northern New Jersey to be with family in the Tri-State Area.

“I worked part-time at a dry cleaners,” said Zamora. “That is where I learned to speak English. And I learned it quickly with so many customers.”

Her mother’s surgery brought Zamora home. Soon afterwards, she met her future husband and returned to UDA to get her business administration degree.

Freshly baked cinnamon rolls being taken out of the oven. They must cool before being iced.

After graduating, Zamora worked in customer service at a family-owned company that made clothing. Three years later, Zamora had her own business selling various products from her clients.

Pregnant with Maria, Zamora returned to the family business. When her daughter was two years old, Zamora left the family clothing business.

“That was 2011. I decided to start baking at home,” said Zamora. “For all of her life, my mom baked, and she taught me how to bake when I was 16 years old.”

Cinnamon rolls need to rise before they can be baked.

Zamora’s mother always worked at a bakery. She showed Zamora the ins-and-outs of the business, including baking and delivering the baked goods.

“At that time, I did not like baking,” said Zamora. “Little did I know that in the future I would be doing this.”

At the beginning, Zamora was just selling her baked goods to her large family. For Christmas 2022, she started selling ginger cookies as well as butter cookies, with holiday colors. She also sold her molded chocolate.

Her offerings were expanded, including brownies.

Ana Maria Carrión carefully rolls up a cinnamon roll.

“I learned to make brownies from New York. It was my first recipe,” said Zamora. “My aunt in New Jersey gave me a New York cheesecake recipe. I never did it in the U.S., but I decided to make it here.”

Recipes have been tweaked, and only high-quality ingredients are used for their baked goods, all done at their home in La Isla, in southern Cuenca.

“We only use Président cream cheese,” said Zamora.

Created in 1933 by André Besnier, Président is a leader in France in cheese, butter, and other dairy products, with a presence in 85 percent of French households. The brand is the #1 cheese brand in Europe, and it is sold in more than 150 countries, including Ecuador.

“We have taken recipes from social media and changed them for the better,” said Zamora. “We are always trying something new.”

That “new” includes icings for their cinnamon rolls, such as coffee.

They also have classic icing (that includes Président cream cheese, of course), pistachio, and KINDER™ chocolate. Made in Italy, KINDER™ is the second largest chocolate brand in the world.

Each cinnamon roll is about four inches in diameter, and they cost $3 each. Cimonne accepts cash or a bank transfer.

The cinnamon rolls are made to order, so they must be ordered via WhatsApp in advance by 3 p.m. the preceding day.

For $2, Cimonne will deliver their cinnamon rolls to one’s home. One can also pick the cinnamon rolls up at their home.

Rachel Nichols said that cinnamon rolls are “proof that sweet, comforting, and indulgent things exist in the world.”

One expat from the U.S. concurred: “These are some of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had!”

Of course, that expat is a return customer at Cimonne.
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Cimonne, Paseo Río Tomebamba y Paseo Río Tarqui, Cuenca, 096-350-3427, Instagram: @cimmone_

Photos by Stephen Vargha

Stephen Vargha’s second edition of his book about Cuenca, “Una Nueva Vida – A New Life” is available at Amazon in digital and hardback formats. His award-winning blog, “Becoming Cuenca,” supplements his book with the latest information and hundreds of professional photos by him.