Hokey pokey ice cream

Hokey pokey ice creamIf you made the cinder toffee from last week and have managed to avoid eating it all so far, you’re in for a treat. This ice cream reflects two of my favourite sweeties – Maltesers and Crunchie bars. The cinder toffee (the middle of a Crunchie) is crumbled and blended into a malt-flavoured ice cream, flavoured just like the inside of a curiously creamy Malteser.

I haven’t used any chocolate in this ice cream because I wanted the malt and toffee to stand on their own, but if you would like to make this even more similar to the sweets, add five tablespoons of milk chocolate chips at the same time you add the crumbled cinder toffee to the mixture. To make about two pints of ice cream, you’ll need:

4 egg yolks
½ pint (250ml) milk
1 pint (500ml) double cream
100g caster sugar
2 sachets Horlicks Light (see below)
5 heaped tablespoons roughly crushed cinder toffee

Horlicks is an English malted milk drink. (If any US readers could let me know what the equivalent across the pond is, I’d be very grateful!) The full-fat version is usually stirred into hot milk. Horlicks Light is stirred into water, and I use it here because it contains powdered milk, which makes the ice cream all the more creamy and delicious.

Start by making a custard base for the ice cream. Beat the egg yolks, the milk, the Horlicks and the sugar together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Continue to stir vigorously over a very low heat until the custard starts to thicken. You’ll notice that it forms a glossy sheen on the back of a wooden spoon when ready. Be very careful not to allow the custard to boil, or it will separate.

When the custard has thickened, transfer it to a jug and add the double cream. Stir well and put the jug in the fridge until the mixture is chilled.

If you have an ice cream machine, add the mixture to the machine and follow the instructions. Halfway through the freezing time, add the crushed cinder toffee to the drum. (I’ve found the easiest way to crush it is to put it in a plastic freezer bag, knot the top, hold onto the knot and bang the bag against the work surface.) Continue until the ice cream is stiff enough to serve.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine, put the mixture in a Tupperware box and place it in the freezer. After twenty minutes, remove it from the freezer and beat the partially frozen mixture with a whisk. Remove and beat every twenty minutes, breaking up the ice crystals, until the ice cream is frozen evenly but very soft – stir the cinder toffee in at this point. Keep freezing and beating until the mixture is solid. Serve sprinkled with a little extra crushed cinder toffee. And remember to brush your teeth.

11 Replies to “Hokey pokey ice cream”

  1. My favourite bit of making cinder toffee is undoubtedly the frothing and extravagant up-bubbling when you add the bicarb, but from this it sounds as though concocting and consuming the ice cream might become the new favourite…

    Off the point (sorry!): what was the name of that perfume you wanted me to find? We’re off to Palermo tomorrow, so if you text me the name/maker, I’ll check out the shops.

  2. Our malted drink here in Canada is called “Malted Milk powder” and is made by Carnation/Nestle. In recent years it’s been really hard to find. Look around at your odd Mom and Pop grocery stores and you might find a bottle!

  3. Oh, this does look good. Though I just realised, just how old this post and the other one hat I replied to, are. 🙂

    I’m rather enjoying poking around on your site …. sticky date pudding, brandy snaps … mmmmm, have to keep reminding myself that I’m trying to lose weight!!

  4. Hi Robin – not quite the same thing, I’m afraid. Ovaltine (which we have in the UK too – I drank gallons of it as a kid) is a chocolate malt mix, while Horlicks is malt only. Can you find packs of something called Malted Milk where you are?

  5. i live in the US, and we can get Horlicks here as well, though I am not sure if I ever seen them in a regular supermarket. Usually supermarkets in caribbean neighbourhoods or korean green grocer stores sell horlicks in jars and sometimes cans

  6. I’m wondering what the size (weight) of the Horlicks sachets you used were? I can only find regular Horlicks here (NZ) but it’s in a jar?

  7. The equivalent of Horlick’s in the US should be the Carnation Malted Milk power that Raine mentioned above. While it’s not ubiquitous in the US anymore, I don’t think it would be too hard to find in a grocery store.

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