René Redzepi's Buttermilk Soup With Biscuits

Ingredients

• Biscuits
• ½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 1 egg
• Soup
• 6 egg yolks (or ½ cup of pasteurized egg yolks--available at most supermarkets)
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• 4¼ cups buttermilk
• 2 cups kefir
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Juice and zest of one and a half lemons

Optional Ingredients

• Berries (optional)

Directions

1. Make the biscuits: In a medium bowl, mix the vanilla seeds well with the sugar, then add the flour, baking powder and mix until combined. Add the butter and mix it in with your hands until a crumbly texture forms, about 2 minutes. Mix in the egg. Lastly, pour in the milk, and mix well.
2. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ½-inch thickness. Wrap it in plastic and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the dough into ½-inch rounds and place on a baking paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until fluffy and lightly golden. Let cool slightly.
4. Lower the oven to 225 degrees. With a serrated knife, cut each biscuit in half horizontally and place back on the baking paper. Put the biscuits back into the oven and bake until completely dry, about 45 minutes.
5. Make the soup: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and the vanilla seeds until thick and fluffy, 5 minutes on medium high speed, then stir in the buttermilk, kefir and cream until combined. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. Chill the soup in the fridge for 1 hour before serving.
6. Pour the soup into 8 bowls and top each bowl with 6 to 8 biscuits. Garnish with berries (optional) and serve.