Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

Although we don't know when the term hokey pokey was coined, it has been used in English-speaking countries to refer to ice cream and ice cream vendors since the 19th century. But in New Zealand, it designates honeycomb candy and also vanilla ice cream with honeycomb. A true treat from down under! This recipe is really easy to make and will bring to your table a fun and deliciously creamy, crunchy treat. Hokey pokey is New Zealand's most popular ice cream flavor and rightly so. Serve it as is, or use it to top pound cake or vanilla cupcakes.

Honeycomb candy is also known as hokey pokey, cinder toffee, or sponge candy. It's made simply by heating together sugar and golden syrup and stirring in baking soda. This causes the mixture to froth up and aerate. After about 30 minutes, the mixture hardens to become the honeycomb we all love. Many recipes for honeycomb use, indeed, honey, but many others, like ours, use golden syrup. Golden syrup, or light treacle, is a thick product made out of sugar and it has a color and consistency similar to honey. It's a famous British product that you can find online or in some specialty stores, but if you can't find it, light corn syrup is an adequate substitute.

Choose your favorite vanilla ice cream, and the dessert will only be better if you use good quality ice cream. As the honeycomb is vegetarian and vegan friendly, you can use a dairy-free vanilla ice cream to adjust this recipe to suit your dietary preferences.