The Florida Dine and Dash: Liquid Nitrogen Dessert. mmmmmmmmmmm.....

Liquid nitrogen definitely doesn’t come to mind when thinking of ways to make a delicious dessert. Nonetheless, ice cream can indeed be made using the -320 liquid that is incredibly dangerous and unpredictable if not dealt with properly. Dangerous dessert, now that sounds like a cheesy horror film. Pure Magic Ice Cream is this newcomer dessert joint that best resembles good competition of your usual Dairy Queens and Twistee Treats. It does offer some lunch items and drinks, but you are going there mainly for their desserts. Less than a year old, Pure Magic Ice Cream is a nifty little ice cream joint that isn’t too deep in Downtown Kissimmee.

The infamous Orange Blossom Trail transforms into Main Street once you hit Downtown Kissimmee. Taking that street straight-shot, you’ll find Pure Magic Ice Cream on the right side about a mile or two into the historic downtown area. The building itself isn’t very big, but has a nice massive backyard-like area full of games for smaller children to play, as well as chalk to draw on the walls. On the inside, it’s open-ended, with no air conditioning but plenty of fans to fight off the heat. In the corner of the building is an assortment of massive tanks full of nitrogen. Pure Magic is a mere nine months old and seems to have already developed a cult audience in the Kissimmee area.

You have five dollars? You can have a vanilla-cheesecake-marshmallow-reeses-walnut-oreo ice cream. With just five dollars at hand, you can create any crazy combination ice cream, granted they have the ingredients. Excluding the special toppings that they sometimes have, there are at least 30 potential “toss-ins” when creating your ice cream. And they range from your usual ice cream flavors to fruit flavors to candy bars to yes, even cheesecake. What they do is grab a bowl, set some cream and milk, and add whatever toppings you request. Then afterwards they bombard the cream with a hefty dosage of liquid nitrogen, immediately freezing the product. After a bit of mashing around, your ice cream is ready.

My first combination was mint chocolate chip and reeses peanut butter cups. Josh (My cameraman)’s first combination was their signature honey cinnamon. My ice cream turned out very well, but extremely crunchy. I didn’t taste much of the mint or original vanilla, but definitely got a nice kick of Reeses and the chocolate chips. Josh’s honey cinnamon was not crunchy, but extremely strong. The honey immediately attacks the taste buds and lingers, removing any possible evidence of vanilla. It doesn’t necessarily have the creamy texture of ice cream, but has the flavor. Nonetheless, the honey cinnamon was still a bit too strong for both of us. We were not worthy of its richness (bows head in shame).

The second day however was much more successful. Josh went for the coffee ice cream. Very simple, but very tasty. The coffee was rich and is not much of a battle to eat. My combination even impressed the person making it (not boasting or anything, I swear), as I asked for a crazy hybrid of cheesecake, chocolate, and marshmallow. It was a lot simpler than my first experience, but much richer in flavor, and lacked all the crunchiness I experienced with the other ice cream. It was essentially the liquid nitrogen equivalent of Dairy Queen’s cheesecake Blizzard---except it was made the way I wanted it. The portion is also massive, unlike your usual ice cream locations around Central Florida. At 5 dollars, it’s quite a special deal. And you get a nice presentation to boot, as they make it right in front of you.

Bottom Line: While I am not the biggest fan of Downtown Kissimmee, Pure Magic Ice Cream is definitely a location worth visiting. Their method of making ice cream might scare away some people, but once you try it, you’ll enjoy it. All I recommend is that you fray away from using too many “crunchy” toppings; otherwise, it will be a battle against the teeth to enjoy. After a practice run or two, you’ll master the ability to create some delicious ice cream at a nice cheap price, and in a nice location full of smiles and good spirits. I recommend my combination, and recommend their coffee ice cream. But, once you grab that Lincoln, you hold the key to your ice cream destiny with thousands of potential ways to create your dessert.