Stellar Scoops Scoop Planner
Menu

Hokey pokey ice cream

Vanilla ice cream filled with crunchy, golden pieces of honeycomb toffee, a flavor closely tied to New Zealand.

Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. What the badge means

Hokey pokey ice cream is plain vanilla ice cream loaded with crunchy, golden pieces of honeycomb toffee. In the United States it can be hard to find, so making it at home is often the simplest way to try it.

This page covers what it tastes like, how to make hokey pokey ice cream from a base formula, what to serve with it, how common it is and what the nutrition figures show.

What hokey pokey tastes like

Hokey pokey starts with vanilla ice cream. The base is smooth, creamy and pale, with a clean vanilla taste that lets the toffee stand out.

The mix-in is honeycomb toffee, broken into small pieces. Honeycomb toffee is a light, airy candy full of tiny bubbles, golden in color, with a deep caramel sweetness. In the ice cream it gives you a crisp, brittle crunch against the soft base.

Each spoonful mixes cold, creamy vanilla with sugary, crackly bits of toffee. The golden pieces show up clearly against the pale ice cream. That contrast in taste and texture is the whole point of the flavor.

Where hokey pokey comes from

Hokey pokey ice cream is closely tied to New Zealand. The story goes that it began in Dunedin. The New Zealand Ice Cream Association says there are several stories about who first made it, and that the strongest claim belongs to Brian Simon. He recalled making it at Newjoy Ice Cream Co. in Dunedin in 1953, using broken pieces of honeycomb toffee bars made nearby.

The name itself is older. The association says the earliest definite record of hokey pokey as a name for honeycomb toffee in New Zealand is a patent application lodged by Dunedin confectioner William Hatton on March 14, 1896, for a confection of sugar, glucose, water and baking soda.

Even with these records, who made the ice cream first is disputed.

How to make hokey pokey at home

For hokey pokey at home, we suggest a Philadelphia-style base, which uses no eggs. The Base Builder sets that style up for you and sizes it to your machine. A no-churn base (condensed milk and whipped cream) also works. The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

Use a plain vanilla base. Break honeycomb toffee into small pieces, then fold them in at the very end of churning. Do not add the toffee early: the pieces soften if they sit in the base.

This timing follows how factories handle mix-ins. Pieces such as fruit, nuts, candy and cookies go into the ice cream as it leaves the freezer, when about half of its water is frozen and it is about as soft as soft serve. That is why home cooks add them at the end of churning. If you already have a recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.

Base formula

Open the Base Builder: Philadelphia (no eggs)

Other styles that suit it: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)

The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

What to serve with hokey pokey

Hokey pokey goes well with caramel sauce, which doubles down on the toffee's deep, sugary flavor. A drizzle over a scoop works nicely. Chocolate is another good match, either as a sauce or as shavings on top, and it balances the sweetness of the honeycomb. Coffee suits it too: serve a scoop next to a cup of coffee, or pour a shot of espresso over it for a simple dessert.

  • caramel sauce
  • chocolate
  • coffee

How common hokey pokey is

We give hokey pokey a waxing crescent badge, 2 of 5, labeled "Hard to find." That means you are most likely to see it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. The badge shows how easy a flavor is to find, not how much people like it.

No survey we use lists hokey pokey by name. So this badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find in the United States, not a survey result. If you cannot find it near you, a homemade batch with a plain vanilla base and store-bought or homemade honeycomb toffee is an easy way to try it.

No survey we use lists this flavor by name, so its badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find.

  1. Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
  2. Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
  3. Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
  4. Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
  5. Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.

Nutrition, roughly

FoodData Central has no record for hokey pokey itself, so these figures are for a plain vanilla base, not for this flavor. Regular vanilla ice cream has 207 kcal per 100 grams, and about 137 kcal per 1/2 cup (66 g) portion. Rich vanilla has 249 kcal per 100 grams. The honeycomb toffee and any extra sweeteners will change these numbers.

Nutrition per 100 grams

FoodData Central record Calories Fat Saturated fat Sugars Protein
Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat 207 kcal 11 g 6.79 g 21.2 g 3.5 g
Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 249 kcal 16.2 g 10.30 g 20.6 g 3.5 g

FoodData Central has no record for hokey pokey itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.

Questions people ask

What does hokey pokey ice cream taste like?

It tastes like creamy vanilla ice cream with crunchy, golden pieces of honeycomb toffee. The toffee adds a deep caramel sweetness and a crisp, brittle crunch against the smooth base.

When should I add honeycomb toffee to homemade ice cream?

Fold the toffee in at the very end of churning. Break it into small pieces first. If the pieces sit in the base too long, they soften and lose their crunch.

Which base style works for hokey pokey ice cream?

A Philadelphia-style base with no eggs works well, using plain vanilla. A no-churn base made with condensed milk and whipped cream also works. The Base Builder can set up the Philadelphia style for you.

Who invented hokey pokey ice cream?

Who made it first is disputed. The New Zealand Ice Cream Association says the strongest claim is Brian Simon's, who recalled making it at Newjoy Ice Cream Co. in Dunedin in 1953.

Regional and international ice cream flavors ยท All flavors

Plan and make it with these

Sources

  1. The History of Ice Cream in New Zealand, 1951 to 1960 (Legend: Hokey Pokey) The New Zealand Ice Cream Association (Inc.)
  2. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  3. Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
  4. Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.