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Abel Gonzales, Jr., center, cringes after being kissed by fellow competitors Jake Levy, left, and Michael Levy on Monday at the Big Tex Choice Awards.

Redemption for one man comes deep fried.

After some people complained last year that Abel Gonzales Jr.'s Fried Coke creation just didn't taste enough like cola, the State Fair of Texas concessionaire vowed to return to the fairgrounds this year with a new fried treat that explodes with undeniable, greasy goodness.

And he's done it, at least according to the judges at the third annual Big Tex Choice Awards, where the best new foods of the upcoming fair are first introduced to the hungry world each year. Judges on Monday chose Mr. Gonzales' Texas Fried Cookie Dough as the best tasting among the new fair foods at their Fair Park contest.

"This year, I decided I was going to make something that really tasted good to me, and I really like this cookie dough," Mr. Gonzales said soon after being given his trophy, an Oscar-esque statuette with a Big Tex plastic head glued on top.

A panel of local celebrity judges picked the Fried Cookie Dough – a chocolate chip, pecan and coconut cookie base that's battered and fried – from among seven competitors.

Some entries of the contest were sweet and some were savory, but all were finished off in the fryer.

"This is the No. 1 reason people show up at the gate," said Mitchell Glieber, senior vice president of marketing for the fair, which opens Sept. 28. "For one month out of each year, the great fair is the fried-food capital of the state of Texas."

Mr. Gonzales' frying forte is becoming the stuff of legend at the State Fair. This is the third Big Tex award he's nabbed. His first was in 2005 for his Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich, a tribute to Elvis Presley.

His Fried Coke won last year as the contest's most creative entry and became a breakout sensation nationwide. NBC's Today show flew Mr. Gonzales to New York to make his creation on air, and Fried Coke became a butt of jokes on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

"I don't expect I'll ever have another Fried Coke," Mr. Gonzales said before the contests. "That was a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing."

COURTNEY PERRY/DMN

Abel Gonzales Jr. took top honors at Monday's Big Tex Choice Awards.

But concessionaire brothers Jake and Michael Levy said they're already getting calls from media outlets as far as England and Canada, and everyone wants to talk about what they've got in the fryer.

The brothers won the Big Tex prize Monday for most creative new food with their Deep Fried Latte, a cappuccino ice cream sundae sitting atop a fried pastry and syrup, instant coffee sprinkles and whipped cream.

"It something that's just a little bit different," Michael Levy said. "And a lot people like coffee."

Although food vendor Debbie Hays and her family were among the vendors who weren't awarded a Big Tex trophy, they said they are still walking tall.

B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding was the invention of Ms. Hays' brother, longtime concessionaire B.W. Morrow, who died of a heart attack earlier this year. His recipe was picked to be in the contest posthumously.

His wife and daughter came to the contest to see how everyone would respond to Mr. Morrow's last fair food contribution, banana pudding wrapped in a tortilla and fried.

COURTNEY PERRY/DMN

Texas Fried Cookie Dough was one of the entries in the 2007 Big Tex Choice Awards, the annual contest to determine what will be the best new food at the State Fair of Texas.

The judges said it was deliciously comforting.

"He had worked on creating this for this year's fair," said Mr. Morrow's wife, Judy. "This is a real honor for us to be in the contest. He'd be proud."

Mr. Gonzales' family said they are a little leery of his third win. They've been working behind the scenes now for several years – spreading peanut butter and jelly on thousands of bread slices and mixing batter for countless Fried Cokes.

This year they'll have a new job: constructing the cardboard cars that Mr. Gonzales plans to use as dishes for his Fried Cookie Dough.

"I told Abel before the contest that if he wins, I quit," joked his aunt, Rosemary Gonzales, pointing out the paper cuts she's already gotten on her hands as Mr. Gonzales cradled his new trophy nearby. "I just told him I've handed in my resignation."