Koldskål (Danish cold buttermilk dessert with crisp biscuits)
The taste of a Danish summer: a cold, tangy, lemon-and-vanilla buttermilk soup whisked with egg yolks until it is silky and pale yellow, eaten with strawberries and a handful of crisp little kammerjunker biscuits scattered on top at the very last moment.
- Time
- 15 min (15 prep + 0 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 14 g
Ingredients
- 2 large liquid egg yolks, pasteurised yolks (they stay raw)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, or the seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus the grated zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2/3 cup skyr, plain
- 3 cups low-fat buttermilk, cold
To serve
- 1 1/4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 3 1/2 oz zwieback, kammerjunker biscuits or other crisp sweet rusks, lightly crushed
Steps
- Use pasteurised egg yolks, because they are not cooked. Whisk the yolks, sugar and vanilla for 2–3 minutes until pale and airy.
- Stir in the lemon juice and zest, then the skyr, until smooth.
- Whisk in the buttermilk a little at a time so the mixture stays smooth and does not split.
- Taste it and add a little more lemon or sugar if it needs it. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour; it keeps 3 days in the fridge, and only needs a stir before serving.
- Ladle into deep bowls, top with the strawberries and scatter the biscuits over at the table, so they stay crisp.
Good to know
What are kammerjunkere?
Small, twice-baked Danish biscuits with cardamom and lemon, sold in every Danish supermarket in summer. Any crisp sweet rusk or crumbled plain biscuit does the same job, and cornflakes are a popular shortcut.
Can I leave out the eggs?
Yes. It loses a little of its silky colour and body but tastes just as fresh: a score of about 54 instead of 51.
Can I use tykmælk or kefir instead of skyr?
Yes, that is the classic: use the same weight, for a thinner and less tangy koldskål, at a score of about 47 instead of 51.
Per
- Calories
- 92
- Protein
- (20%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (59%)
- 14 g
- of which sugar
- 7 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 81 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1160 kcal goes into the pot and 1260 g of ingredients comes out as about 1260 g of food: 92 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.