Inspired by the classic cinnamon rolls, here are my festive sweet saffron and clementine rolls. They're made with an eggless, no-knead, saffron infused dough and filled with clementine buttery goodness. I frost them with a melty saffron cream cheese glaze that is good enough to eat directly from the bowl.

Pillowy soft and ultra luxurious, they made the perfect Holiday Indian fusion dessert.

Saffron clementines rolls in a baking dish, topped with saffron cheeseceeam frosting.

Note – This recipe has been updated from the archives – first published 23 December 2015. I’ve added new images and content, with some recipe improvements.

Let me tell you why I think these saffron clementine rolls are the best sweet rolls for breakfast - they're literally sunshine yellow! Beautifully toasted saffron provides all the gorgeous golden colour and flavour that's needed for these rolls.

The filling swaps cinnamon and instead is filling with a brown sugar, butter and lots of clementine zest. This perfectly infuses the rolls with a bright citrus flavour to cut through the rich creaminess.

I'll take an extra helping with a piping hot mug of elaichi chai or switch it up and go for a Starbucks style eggnog latte (mines without eggs).

Baked Indian style sweet rolls in a white baking dish on a wire rack.

Ingredients notes

Be sure to check out the full recipe and exact ingredient list below in the recipe card.

The Dough

These rolls are made with an enriched, yeasted dough without eggs.

All purpose flour - aka plain flour.

Dried active yeast - I've used active dry yeast which requires blooming in warm milk and sugar. If you use fast action yeast, you can skip the blooming step and add directly into the recipe. I like to follow this handy guide by Sally's Baking Addiction.

Sugar - I use white granulated sugar.

Milk - I use whole milk (full fat milk) for softness and creaminess.

Butter - I use unsalted butter which is needed in replacement of the egg. It provides softness and richness to the dough in absence of the egg.

Saffron - I gently toast and then crush to get a fine powder. When added to the warm milk, the saffron blooms and releases golden colour. I use similar techniques in my saffron milk cookie sticks.

Double cream - not added into the dough but poured in between the rolls just prior to baking. The cream adds richness and a slight gooeyness underneath the rolls. This is optional.

Filling

Brown sugar - I've experimented with both soft brown sugar and white sugar. Both work well, but I like the toffee flavour of brown sugar. Use whichever you prefer.

Butter - salted or unsalted works here. I bring the butter to room temperature - it needs to be spreadable but not melted. Melted butter will seep into the dough and ruin the texture.

Clementine zest - make sure to not grate down to the white part as this will cause bitterness.

Frosting

Cream cheese - I use a full-fat cream cheese.

Icing sugar - aka powdered sugar or confectioners sugar. It's basically finely ground sugar mixed with a little cornstarch.

Cream - I've used double cream which is nice and thick for this icing.

Butter - I add a little unsalted softened butter.

Saffron - bloomed in the cream.

Optional - I reckon you could add a little squeeze of clementine juice to add extra flavour but you will need more icing sugar as extra liquid may thin out the icing too much.

The colours you can see of the dough and icing are purely with saffron. The only way to achieve these colours is to bloom the saffron the correct way. If you want the colours stronger, I suggest using a pinch of turmeric or a tiny pinch of yellow food colouring.

Storage

Saffron clementine rolls are best eaten on the day of baking for the softest texture. Serve them warm.

One sweet roll on a green dessert plate with a spoon.

As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

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