get current date from [NSDate date] but set the time to 10:00 am

How can I reset the current date retrieved from [NSDate date] but then change the time to 10:00 in the morning.

As with all date manipulation you have to use NSDateComponents and NSCalendar

NSDate *now = [NSDate date];
NSCalendar *calendar = [[NSCalendar alloc] initWithCalendarIdentifier: NSCalendarIdentifierGregorian];
NSDateComponents *components = [calendar components:NSCalendarUnitYear|NSCalendarUnitMonth|NSCalendarUnitDay fromDate:now];
[components setHour:10];
NSDate *today10am = [calendar dateFromComponents:components];

in iOS8 Apple introduced a convenience method that saves a few lines of code:

NSDate *d = [calendar dateBySettingHour:10 minute:0 second:0 ofDate:[NSDate date] options:0];

Swift:

let calendar: NSCalendar! = NSCalendar(calendarIdentifier: NSCalendarIdentifierGregorian)
let now: NSDate! = NSDate()
                
let date10h = calendar.dateBySettingHour(10, minute: 0, second: 0, ofDate: now, options: NSCalendarOptions.MatchFirst)!

this nsdate used different format:

NSDateFormatter *format = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[format setDateFormat:@"MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm"];

NSDate *now = [[NSDate alloc] init];

NSString *dateString = [format stringFromDate:now];

NSDateFormatter *inFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[inFormat setDateFormat:@"MMM dd, yyyy"];

NSDate *parsed = [inFormat dateFromString:dateString]; 

NSDate *currentDate = [NSDate date];
NSDateComponents *comps = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
[comps setHour:10];
NSDate *date = [gregorian dateByAddingComponents:comps toDate:currentDate  options:0];
[comps release];

Not tested in xcode though :)

I just set the timezone with Matthias Bauch answer And it worked for me. else it was adding 18:30 min more.

let cal: NSCalendar = NSCalendar.currentCalendar()
cal.timeZone = NSTimeZone(forSecondsFromGMT: 0)
let newDate: NSDate = cal.dateBySettingHour(1, minute: 0, second: 0, ofDate: NSDate(), options: NSCalendarOptions())!

You can use this method for any minute / hour / period (aka am/pm) combination:

- (NSDate *)todayModifiedWithHours:(NSString *)hours
                           minutes:(NSString *)minutes
                         andPeriod:(NSString *)period
{
    NSDate *todayModified = NSDate.date;
    
    NSCalendar *calendar = [[NSCalendar alloc] initWithCalendarIdentifier:NSGregorianCalendar];
    
    NSDateComponents *components = [calendar components:NSYearCalendarUnit|NSMonthCalendarUnit|NSDayCalendarUnit|NSMinuteCalendarUnit fromDate:todayModified];
    
    [components setMinute:minutes.intValue];
    
    int hour = 0;
    
    if ([period.uppercaseString isEqualToString:@"AM"]) {
        
        if (hours.intValue == 12) {
            hour = 0;
        }
        else {
            hour = hours.intValue;
        }
    }
    else if ([period.uppercaseString isEqualToString:@"PM"]) {
        
        if (hours.intValue != 12) {
            hour = hours.intValue + 12;
        }
        else {
            hour = 12;
        }
    }
    [components setHour:hour];
    
    todayModified = [calendar dateFromComponents:components];
    
    return todayModified;
}

Requested Example:

NSDate *todayAt10AM = [self todayModifiedWithHours:@"10"
                                           minutes:@"00"
                                         andPeriod:@"am"];