Pistachio Sweet Rolls with Saffron Orange Blossom Glaze

So before we go into this beautiful recipe for Pistachio Sweet Rolls with Saffron Orange Blossom Glaze, I’d like to take a moment to say, “hey, how are you, friends”? because it’s been a while. A crazy few things have happened in my life and I’m sure yours as well. Pretty soon I’ll have a “Recently” post and we’ll get caught up like any good friends do. But today, we’ll do a quick phone date and I’ll hit the highlights of my life before we dive head first into a pile of these pistachio sweet rolls, m’kay?

First, let’s talk baseball season. I welcome the sunny nights and a crack of the bat as well as the next ex-softball player, but man, I miss Daniel. For those of you new to the blog, my husband is a high school baseball coach and this is the time of year that seeing each other is a rarity. But I am swimming in an introvert’s dream of alone time. There really is a silver lining to everything, guys. I’m spending my mornings and nights alone and free to make veggie packed dinners and emotional decisions like watching About Time for the umpteenth time. Which, is never a good idea since I’m trying to stay hydrated and crying out all the water I drank in the day is counterproductive.

Secondly, it’s officially spring here in Oregon. A beautiful mess of cold and dewy. My street is starting to bud with tulips and the trees are flooding the horizon with pink cherry blossoms. It’s kicking my SADs butt into 2019. I’m thinking about all the things I want to plant. Chamomile, tomatoes, chives, rosemary, lavender are all top of the list but I’ll probably only get to planting a box of pre-grown pansies. My back yard is wasted on my black thumb.

Third of all, work is blowing up. Like shot off in a rocket ship into an alien universe where all of my hard work is starting to pay off. THREE YEARS. Three years of knowing exactly what I want to be doing with my life and now it’s finally happening. It feels foreign, exciting, emotional and humbling all at ONCE. More on this later but just know, big things are happening and I couldn’t be more thankful that you are on the ride with me.

Okay, that’s our quick phone date and now we talk about more important things, like the soft spring bite of a new kind of sweet roll. The flavors in this thing are more than you could ever expect in a traditional cinnamon roll. Get ready for your mind to blow and your mouth to wonder why you’ve never allowed saffron into your daily baking.

The yeasty dough is simple and straightforward and lets the filling shine in a texture nirvana. But like any sweet roll, we came for the frosting/glaze/drizzle. We came to make sure we are all living our best life. We came because we want to know why this glaze is yellow.

The whole milk is simmered with 2 teaspoons of saffron, which saturates the milk with the most beautiful yellow I’ve ever seen. Splash that bad boy with some orange blossom water and sprinkle in your powdered sugar for a glaze of a good time. I mean it. These flavor combinations just work together. Not in separate cubicles, but in a conference room with a scribbled on white board, working together on a big project kind of synergy.

Pistachio Sweet Rolls with Saffron Orange Blossom Glaze

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This recipe for Pistachio Sweet Rolls with Saffron Orange Blossom Glaze is a wonderful play on flavors and is perfect for a spring or summer morning.

• Author: Karlee Flores
• Prep Time: 2 hours
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

|| Sweet Rolls Dough ||

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 – 3 cups all-purpose flour

5 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

|| Filling ||

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup pistachio

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

4 tbsp butter, melted

|| Glaze ||

1/2 cup whole milk

2 tsp orange blossom water

2 tsp saffron

3 cups powdered sugar

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Instructions

|| Sweet Rolls Dough || Warm the milk and sugar until just above room temperature. Sprinkle in the yeast and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the yeast mixture and melted butter into a standing mixer with the kneading attachment. Add the flour and yeast all at once and turn the mixer on medium until it comes together and forms a ball. Place in a oiled bowl and cover with a dry cloth. Let rise for an hour.

In a food processor, pulse the sugar, pistachio, cinnamon and cardamom together until the pistachios are rice sized. 

Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a long rectangle (about 18×10′). Pour the melted butter all over the dough from edge to edge. Sprinkle on the pistachio mixture edge to edge and roll the dough from the long edge to the long edge pinching the dough together at the end. 

Cut the rolls about an inch thick and place onto a buttered 9×12. Cover and let rise again for 15 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the rolls for 20 minutes. 

|| Glaze || Heat the whole milk over the stove top with the orange blossom water and saffron until it’s starting to steam. Take off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Take out the saffron strands and add in the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.

Drizzle the icing onto the rolls and serve warm.

Keywords: cinnamon rolls, sweet rolls, pistachio, orange blossom, saffron